iJif-^w^iW, 


^r^fe^^l 


***:^! 


Muiual  Banking. 


SHOWING  THE 


iRadical  iDcficiei)cy 


OF  THE 


PRESENT  CIRCULATINCt  MEDIUM 


AND  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF 


B^  Free  Carfci)cy. 


BY 


WILLIAM  B.  GREENE. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  ANTI-INTEREST  LEAGUE. 


SRLF 

URL  M^ 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  payment  of  interest  lias  been  opposed  by  great  thinkers  in  all 
ages.  Philosophers  have  demonstrated  that  it  has  no  reason  for  being. 
Ethical  writers  have  shown  that  justice  does  not  countenance  it.  Econ- 
omists have  proved  it  an  unnecessary  evil.  Among  its  greatest  oppo- 
nents we  find  Aristotle,  Berkeley  and  Proudhon.  These  three  mighty 
thinkers,  though  living  at  different  times  and  in  different  countries, 
neither  using  the  same  methods  of  research,  or  making  deductions  from 
the  same  data,  yet,  from  their  various  standpoints,  reached  the  conclu- 
sion that  interest  is  neither  wise,  just  or  necessary.  Not  all  the  argu- 
ments which  any  one  of  these  writers  employs  are  used,  or  would  be  ac- 
cepted by  either  of  the  others,  but  to  a  considerable  extent  the  three 
reason  -identically,  so  that  we  find  Berkeley,  the  Christian,  agreeing 
with  the  Pagan,  Aristotle,  and  confirmed  by  Proudhon,  the  Rationalist. 
Of  this  trio,  however,  Proudhon  alone  pointed  out  that  interest  could  be 
made  to  disappear,  not  by  curtailing  individual  liberty,  but  only  by  ex- 
tending it. 

In  the  main  the  author  of  this  work  follows  in  Proudhon's  path,  de- 
parting from  it  in  some  important  particulars,  but  in  general  only  so 
modifying  his  master's  work  in  finance,  both  critical  and  constructive, 
as  to  make  it  applicable  to  the  monetary  system  and  economic  methods 
prevailing  in  the  United  States.  His  assault  is  upon  the  system  of  state 
banks  that  was  in  existence  when  he  wrote  (nearly  half  a  century  ago), 
and  the  system  of  mutual  banks  by  which  he  proposed  to  replace  it  is 
an  adjustment  to  American  routine  of  the  essential  principles  embodied 
in  Proudhon's  "Bank  of  the  People."  The  reader  will  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  readjusting  the  arguments  to  the  new  conditions  resulting  from 
the  displacement  of  the  state  batiks  by  the  national  banks. 

Analytical  examination  of  Greene's  work  will  show  that  it  is  written 
in  elucidation  and  illumination  of  the  discovery  that,  considered  as  a 
whole,  interest  payment,  as  it  exists  in  modern  times,  is  not  wliat  it  is 
professed  to  be,  the  price  paid  for  the  use  of  borrowed  capital,  Ijut  the 
premium  paid  for  the  insurance  of  credit.  Paying  interest  is  generally 
accepted  as  equitable  because  it  is  looked  upon  as  a  reimbursement  of 
the  holder  of  capital  for  foregoing  the  advantage  of  using  his  capital 
himself.  Though  the  so-called  borrower  really  needs  capital,  and  ulti- 
uKitely  gets  it  as  a  result  of  the  transaction  between  himself  and  the 
so-called  lender,  this  tiansaction  is  really  not  one  of  borrowing  and 
lending,  but  simply  a  temporary  exchange  of  well-known  credit  for 
credit  less  well  known,  but  equally  good,  and  the  interest  paid  is  the 
price  of  the  insurance  which  the  latter  credit  receives  through  the  ex- 
change. This,  under  a  system  of  free  competition  in  banking,  would 
fall  to  cost,  or  less  than  1  per  cent  per  annum.  It  is  now  maintained  at 
varying  rates,  averaging  5  or  6  per  cent  by  giving  a  monopoly  of  this  ex- 
change of  credits  to  banks,  which,  in  addition  to  the  perfectly  sufficient 
insurance  afforded  by  the  centralization  of  their  customers'  cnMlit, 
furnish  a  supposed  extra  security  by  pledging,  in  a  prescribed  form. 


2V^^'^A^^ 


IV.  MUTUAL   BxVNKING. 

capital  belonging  to  themselves,  thus  enabling  these  banks  to  offer  a 
pretext  for  charging  an  exorbitant  premium,  the  power  to  exact  which 
depends  in  reality  solely  upon  this  monopoly.  This  book  aims  at  the 
destruction  of  their  monopoly  by  allowing  perfect  freedom  in  banking, 
giving  to  all  credit  instruments  the  liberty  of  such  circulation  as  they 
can  command  upon  their  merits,  and  thereby  enabling  producers  to 
monetize  their  credit  directly  and  at  cost,  instead  of  through  the  media- 
tion of  a  prescribed  and  privileged  commodity  and  at  an  exorbitant 
price,  as  well  as  to  increase  the  circulating  power  of  their  credit  by 
methods  of  organization  and  insurance  similar  to  that  which  the  author 
proposes  under  the  name  of  mutual  banking. 

Tlie  long-standing  feud  between  the  hard-money  advocates  and  the 
fiatists  has  been  possible  only  because  each  has  persisted  in  looking  at 
only  one  side  of  the  shield.  The  former  demand  a  safe  currency;  the 
latter  desire  the  benefits  of  paper  money,  and  each  party  ignores  the 
other's  arguments.  This  feud  the  author  brings  to  an  end,  by  proposing 
a  paper  currency  secured  by  real  property,  thus  combining  the  safety  of 
coin  with  the  advantages  of  paper,  and  eliminating  the  evils  of  botli. 
Whenever  a  theory  of  financial  reform  is  broached  that  involves  tlie  issue 
of  paper  money,  the  failures  of  paper  money  experiments  in  the  past  are 
brought  up  as  a  warning.  But  the  experiments  that  failed  after  a  fair 
trial  were  characterized  by  one  or  more  of  three  features  which  almost 
inevitably  bring  disaster,  and  whicli  mutual  banking  excludes: 

1.  The  issue  of  money  by  a  government,  or  under  an  exclusive  priv- 
ilege granted  by  one. 

2.  The  legal  tender  privilege. 

3.  Redemption  on  demand. 

When  the  power  to  issue  money  is  confined  to  privileged  banks,  the 
control  of  the  volume  of  currency  and  the  rate  of  interest  resides  in  a 
cabal,  which  will  .sooner  or  later  use  its  power  to  drive  producers  into 
bankruptcy.  When  the  power  to  issue  money  is  confined  to  government 
itself,  losses  ultimately  ruinous  will  be  suffered  through  maladministra- 
tion by  incompetence,  or  by  fniud,  two  factors  whose  oi)er:it ions,  in  com- 
bination or  in  alternation,  constitute  the  history  of  almost  all  govern- 
mental undertakings. 

The  legal  tender  privilege  adds  no  virtue  to  good  money,  and  re- 
moves the  only  effective  cure  for  bad  money— the  right  to  reject  it.  To 
force  bad  money  on  people  is  as  surely  disastrous  as  to  force  bad  food  on 
tliem.  But  to  dwell  at  U-rigtli  on  this  point  and  on  tlie  redemption  of 
notes  on  demand  would  anticipate  the  author's  argument. 

Within  the  last  three  years  all  the  political  parties  have  sliown  ten- 
dencies toward  the  ideas  advocated  in  tlie  following  pages.  The  Popu- 
lists, in  the  "sub-treasury  plan,"  have  adopti'd  the  author's  economic 
theory  that  money  sliould  be  based  on  real  wealth.  The  Democrats,  in 
professing  to  favor  the  repeal  of  the  10  per  cent  tax,  incline  to  his  polit- 
ical theory  that  tliere  should  be  no  restrictions  on  banks  of  issue.  Mr. 
Hepburn,  who  was  comptroller  of  the  currency  under  President  Harri- 
son, is  the  author  of  the  "Baltimore  Plan,"  which  provides  for  the  I.ssuo 
of  money  based  on  the  nninipaircd  capital  of  national  banks.  This  plan 
has  been  received  with  niucli  favor  by  many  Ki-|)ubllcans.  Tin;  Popu- 
lists fall  short  in  not  allowing  all  forms  of  property  to  serve  as  a  basis  of 
currenc-y.  The  Democrats,  in  not  demanding  the  removal  of  state  re- 
strictions as  well  as  federal,  and  in  not  enforcing  their  demand  when 
they  have  the  power;  and  Mr.  Hepburn  In  not  placing  the  unimpaired 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  V. 

capital  of  the  bank's  customers  on  an  equality  witli  tliat  of  tlie  bank 
itself. 

All  these  theories  are  in  opposition  to  the  orthodox  economy;  the 
first  denies  that  interest  cannot  be  lowered  by  changes  in  the  currency, 
the  second  denies  monopoly,  and  the  third  denies  the  necessity  of  a 
metallic  basis. 

It  is  gratifying  to  observe  these  tendencies,  and  in  the  hope  that  they 

may  soon  become  more  marked,  and  to  help  carry  them  to  tiieir  logical 

conclusion,  this  work  is  republished. 

HENRY  COHEN. 
Denver,  Colo.,  December  1, 1895. 


MUTUAL  BARKIEIG. 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE   USCRY  LAWS. 


All  vsury  laws  appear  to  be  arbitrary  and  uujust.  Rent 
paid  for  the  use  of  all  lands  and  houses  is  freely  determined  in  the 
contract  betv.een  the  landlord  and  tenant:  freight  is  settled  by  the 
contract  between  the  shipowner,  and  the  person  hiring  of  hjm; 
profit  is  determined  in  the  contract  of  purchase  and  sale.  But,  when 
we  come  to  interest  on  money,  principles  suddenly  change:  here 
the  government  intervenes  and  says  to  the  capitalist,  "You  shall  in 
no  case  take  more  than  6  per  cent  interest  on  the  amount  of  prin- 
cipal you  loan.  If  competition  among  capitalists  brings  down  the 
rate  of  interest  to  3,  2,  or  1  per  cent,  you  have  no  remedy;  but  if.  on 
the  other  hand,  competition  among  borrowers  forces  that  rate  up 
to  7,  8  or  9  per  cent,  you  are  prohibited,  under  severe  penalties,  from 
taking  any  advantage  of  the  rise."  Where  is  the  morality  of  this 
restriction?  So  long  as  the  competition  of  the  market  is  permitted 
to  operate  without  legislative  interference,  the  charge  for  the  use 
of  capital  in  all  or  any  of  its  forms  will  be  properly  determined  by 
the  contracts  between  capitalists  and  the  persons  with  whom  they 
deal.  If  the  capitalist  charges  too  much,  the  borrower  obtains 
money  at  the  proper  rate  from  some  other  person;  if  the  borrower 
is  unreasonable,  the  capitalist  refuses  to  part  with  his  money.  If 
lands,  houses,  bridges,  canals,  boats,  wagons,  are  abundant  in  pro- 
portion to  the  demand  for  them,  the  charge  for  the  use  of  them  will 
be  proportionally  low;  if  they  are  scarce,  it  will  be  proportionally 
high.  Upon  what  ground  can  you  justify  the  legislature  in  making 
laws  to  restrict  a  particular  class  of  capitalists,  depriving  them  in- 
vidiously of  the  benefit  which  they  would  naturally  derive  from  a 
system  of  unrestricted  competition?  If  a  man  owns  a  sum  of 
money,  he  must  not  lend  it  for  more  than  6  per  cent  interest,  but  he 
may  buy  houses,  ships,  lands,  wagons,  with  it,  and  these  he  may 
freely  let  out  at  50  per  cent,  if  ho  can  lind  any  person  willing  to  pay 
at  that  rate.  Is  not  the  distinction  drawn  by  the  legislature  arbi- 
trary, and  therefore  unjust?    A  man  wishes  to  obtain  certain  lands, 


*Tliis  work  is  a  compilation  of  a  series  of  newspaper  articles,  hence 
they  are  sonu'what  disconnected,  and  an  occasional  repetition  will  be 
found.— Editor. 


8  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

wagons,  etc.,  and  applies  to  j'ou  for  money  to  buy  them  with;  you 
can  lend  the  money  for  6  per  cent  interest,  and  no  more;  but  you 
can  purchase  the  articles  the  man  desires,  and  let  them  out  to  him 
at  any  rate  of  remuneration  upon  which  you  mutually  agree. 
Every  sound  argument  in  favor  of  the  intervention  of  the  legisla- 
ture to  fix  by  law  the  charge  for  the  use  of  money  bears  with  equal 
force  in  favor  of  legislative  intervention  to  fix  by  law  the  rent  of 
lands  and  houses,  the  freight  of  ships,  the  hire  of  horses  and  car- 
riages, or  the  profit  on  merchandise  sold.  Legislative  interference, 
fixing  the  rate  of  interest  by  law,  appears,  therefore,  to  be  both  im- 
politic and  unjust. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  REPEAT.  OF  THE  USURY  LAWS. 

But  let  logic  have  her  perfect  work.  Suppose  the  usury  laws 
were  repealed  today,  would  justice  prevail  tomorrow?  By  no 
means.  The  government  says  to  yon:  "I  leave  you  and  your 
neighbor  to  compete  with  each  other;  fight  out  your  battles 
between  yourselves;  I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  your  quar- 
rels." You  act  upon  this  hint  of  the  legislature:  yon  enter  into 
competition  with  your  neighbor.  But  you  find  the  government  has 
lied  to  you;  you  find  the  legislature  has  no  intention  of  letting  you 
and  your  neighbor  settle  your  quarrels  between  yourselves.  Far 
from  it;  when  the  struggle  attains  its  height,  behold!  the  govern- 
ment quietly  steps  up  to  your  antagonist,  and  furnishes  him  with  a 
bowie  knife  and  a  revolver.  IIow  can  you,  an  unarmed  man,  con- 
tend with  one  to  whom  the  legislature  sees  fit  to  furnisli  bowie 
knives  and  revolvers?  In  fact,  you  enter  the  market  with  your 
silver  dollar,  while  another  man  enters  the  market  with  his  silver 
dollar.  Your  dollar  is  a  plain  silver  dollar,  nothing  more  or  noth- 
ing less;  but  his  dollar  is  something  very  different,  for,  by  permission 
of  the  legislature,  he  can  issue  bank-l)ills  to  the  amount  of  ILS.^ 
and  loan  money  to  the  extent  of  double  his  or  your  capital.  You  tel 
your  customer  that  you  can  afford  to  lend  your  dollar,  if  he  wil 
return  it  after  a  cei'tain  time,  with  four  cents  for  the  use  of  it,  but 
that  you  cannot  h^nd  it  for  anything  less.  Your  neighbor  comea 
between  you  and  your  customer,  and  says  to  him,  "I  can  do  better 
by  you  than  that.  Don't  take  his  dollar  on  any  such  terms,  for  I 
will  lend  you  a  dollar  and  charge  you  only  three  cents  for  the  use 
of  it."  Thus  he  gets  your  customer  away  from  you;  the  worst  of 
It  is  that  he  still  retains  another  dollar  to  seduce  away  the  next 
customer  to  whom  you  apply.  Nay,  more,  when  he  has  loaned  out 
his  two  dollars,  he  still  has  25  cents  in  specie  in  his  pocket  to  fall 
back  u[)on  and  ciirry  t(i  Texas  in  case  of  accident,  while  you,  if  you 
succeed  in  lending  your  dollar,  must  go  without  money  till  your 
debtor  pays  it  back.  Yet  you  and  he  entered  the  market,  each  with 
a  silver  flollar;  how  is  it  that  he  thus  obtains  the  advantage  over 
you  in  every  transaction?  Th<?  h.v.nki.no  i'iuvileoe  which  the  gov- 
ernment has  given  him,  is  a  murderous  weapon  against  which  you 
cannot  contend. 


THE  USURY  LAWS. 


THE  USURY  LAWS  ARE  NECESSARY  UNDER  PRESENT  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

A  just  balance  and  just  weights!  Very  well;  but  if  we  have  an 
unjust  balance,  is  it  not  necessary  that  the  weights  should  be  un- 
just also?  A  just  balance  and  unjust  weights  give  false  measure, 
and  just  weights  with  an  unjust  balance  give  false  measure  in  like 
manner,  but  an  unjust  balance  and  unjust  weights*  may  be  so  ad- 
JUST-ed  as  to  give  true  measure.  Under  our  present  system,  the 
lender  who  is  not  connected  with  the  banks  may  be  oppressed,  but 
the  usury  laws  (unjust  as  they  are  when  considered  without  rela- 
tion to  the  false  system  under  which  we  live)  afford  some  protec- 
tion, at  least  to  the  borrower.  They  are  the  unjust  weights,  which, 
to  a  certain  extent,  justify  the  false  balance.  It  would  be  well  to 
have  a  just  balance  and  just  weights;  that  is,  it  would  be  well  to  re- 
peal the  usury  laws,  and  to  abolish,  not  only  the  banking  privilege, 
but  also,  as  we  shall  proceed  to  show,  the  exclusively  specie  basis  of 
the  currency;  but  it  will  not  do  to  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles,  nor 
to  mend  old  garments  with  new  cloth.  When  the  bank  lends  two  do\- 
lars,  while  it  owns  only  one,  it  gets  twice  the  interest  it  is  actually 
entitled  to.  Insist,  if  you  will,  upon  retaining  your  peculiar  priv- 
ileges; but  consent  in  the  name  of  moderation  and  justice,  to  let  me 
protect  myself  by  the  usury  laws;  for  they  are  not  very  severe 
against  you  after  all.  The  usury  laws  confine  you  to  6  per  cent  in- 
terest on  whatever  you  loan,  but,  as  the  banking  laws  enable  you 
to  loan  twice  as  much  as  you  actually  possess,  you  obtain  12  per 
cent  interest  on  all  the  capital  you  really  own.  You  cannot  com- 
plain that  in  your  case  the  usury  laws  violate,  and  without  due 
compensation,  the  right  of  property;  for  you  only  own  one  dollar, 
and  yet  receive  interest  and  transact  business,  as  though  you  owned 
two  dollars.  The  usury  laws  are  necessary,  not  to  interfere  in  your 
right  to  your  own  property,  but  to  limit  you  in  the  abuse  of  the  un- 
just and  exclusive  privileges  granted  you  by  the  legislature.  The 
antagonism  between  the  usury  and  the  banking  laws  is  like  the 
division  of  Satan  against  Satan;  and,  through  their  internal  con- 
flict and  opposition,  the  modern  Hebrew  kingdom  may  one  day  be 
brought  to  destruction. 

ARGUMENT  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  USURY  LAWS. 

But  let  US  now  examine  the  great  argument  in  favor  of  the 
immediate  repeal  of  the  usury  laws— an  argument  which,  according 
to  those  who  adduce  it,  is  in  every  way  unanswerable.  It  is  saidthat 
all  the  above  considerations,  though  important  and  certainly  to  the 
point,  ought  to  have  very  little  weight  in  our  minds,  and  that  for 
the  following  reason:  Men  do,  notwithstanding  the  present  laws, 
take  exorbitant  interest;  and  whatever  usury  laws  may  be  passed, 
they  will  continue  so  to  do.  If  it  be  acknowledged  that  it  is  wrong 
to  take  too  high  interest,  that  acknowledgement  will  not  help  the 


*Take  the  steelyard  for  example. 


10  MUTUAL   BA^^KING. 

matter,  for,  though  we  acknowledge  the  wrong,  we  are  impotent  to 
prevent  it.  The  usury  laws  merely  add  a  new  evil  to  one  that  was 
bad  enough  when  it  was  alone.  Without  a  usury  law,  men  will 
take  too  high  interest;  for  they  have  the  power  to  do  it  as  credit  is 
now  organized,  and  no  legislation  can  prevent  them;  with  a  usury 
law  they  will  continue  to  take  unjust  interest,  and  will  have  re- 
course to  expedients  of  questionable  morality  to  evade  the  law.  If 
the  taking  of  too  high  interest  be  an  evil,  is  it  not  still  a  greater 
evil  for  the  community  to  demoralize  itself  by  evading  the  laws;  to 
demoralize  itself  by  allowing  individuals  to  have  recourse  to  sub- 
terranean methods  to  accomplish  an  end  they  are  determined  to  ac- 
complish at  all  events — an  end  which  they  cannot  accomplish  in  the 
light  of  day,  because  of  the  terror  of  the  law?  Thus  argue  the  ad- 
vocates of  immediate  repeal,  and  with  much  show  of  reason.  There 
are  a  hundred  ways  in  which  the  usury  laws  may  be  evaded. 

POWER    OF    CAPITAL  IN    THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

We  think  few  persons  are  aware  of  the  power  of  capital  in  this 
Commonwealth.  According  to  a  pamphlet  quoted  by  Mr.  Kellogg, 
containing  a  list  of  the  wealthy  men  of  Boston,  and  an  estimate  of 
the  value  of  their  property,  there  are  224  individuals  in  this  city  who 
are  worth,  in  the  aggregate,  ?71,85.").0(X);  the  average  wealth  of 
these  individuals  would  be  8331,781.  In  this  book,  no  estimate 
is  made  of  the  wealth  of  any  individual  whose  property  is  supposed 
to  amount  to  less  than  S^KKJ.CKX).  Let  us  be  moderate  in  our  estim- 
ates, and  suppose  that  there  are,  in  all  the  towns  and  counties  in 
the  state,  (including  Boston),  3,000  other  individuals  who  are  worth 
$30,000  each,  their  aggregate  wealth  would  amount  to  S<tO.O()0.()00. 
Add  to  this  the  $71,85.).U00  owned  by  the  3~'4  men,  and  we  have  SlGl,- 
8.55,000.  These  estimates  are  more  or  less  incorrect,  but  they  give 
the  nearest  approximation  to  the  truth  that  we  can  obtain  at  the 
present  time.  The  assessors'  valuation  of  the  property  in  the  Stale 
of  Massachusetts  in  1840*  was  «2!»'.».880,338.  We  find,  therefore,  by 
the  above  estimates,  that  3.:ii.'4  individuals  own  more  tlian  half  of 
all  the  property  in  the  State.  If  we  suppose  each  of  these  3,~:.'4  per- 
sons to  be  the  head  of  a  family  of  live  persons,  we  shall  have  in  all 
ir).l:.'0  individuals.  In  1S40  thi-  State  contained  a  population  of  737,- 
7CXJ.  Thus  1(),1:.'0  persons  own  more  property  than  the  remaining 
721, .580;  that  is,  three  persons  out  of  every  hundred  own  more  prop- 
erly than  the  remaining  ninety-seven.  To  be  certain  that  we  are 
wirhin  the  truth,  let  us  say  that  six  out  of  every  hundred  own  more 
pro|>erty  than  the  remaining  ninety-four.  These  wealthy  persons 
are  connected  with  each  other,  for  th<^  banks  are  the  organization 
of  their  mutual  relation,  and  we  think,  liuman  naturi>,  being  wiiat  it 
is,  that  their  weight  would  be  brought  to  bear  still  more  powerfully 

•This  was  written  before  the  valuation  for  Ik.50  was  taken.  As  the 
the  f|uestion  Is  one  (if  prinfiplcs  ratlier  than  of  figures,  we  have  not  con- 
ceived It  necessary  to  rewrilo  tin;  paragriipli. 


THE   USURY   LAWS.  11 

upon  the  community  if  the  usury  laws  were  repealed.  These  per- 
sons might  easily  obtain  complete  control  over  the  banks.  They 
might  easily  so  arrange  matters  as  to  allow  very  little  money  to  be 
loaned  by  the  banks  to  any  but  themselves,  and  thus  they  would 
obtain  the  power  over  the  money  market  which  a  monopoly  always 
gives  to  those  who  wield  It— that  is,  they  would  be  able  to  ask  and 
to  obtain  pretty  much  what  interest  they  pleased  for  their  money. 
Then  there  would  be  no  remedy;  the  indignation  of  the  community 
would  be  of  no  avail.  What  good  would  it  do  you  to  be  indig- 
nant? You  would  go  indignantly,  and  pay  exorbitant  interest, 
because  you  would  be  hard  pushed  for  money.  You  would  get  no 
money  at  the  bank,  because  it  would  be  all  taken  up  by  the  heavy 
capitalists  who  control  those  institutions,  or  by  their  friends. 
These  would  all  get  money  at  6  per  cent  interest  or  less,  and  they 
would  get  from  you  precisely  that  interest  which  your  necessities 
might  enable  them  to  exact.  The  usury  laws  furnish  you  with 
some  remedy  for  these  evils;  for,  under  those  laws,  the  power  of 
demanding  and  obtaining  illegal  interest  will  be  possible  only 
so  long  as  public  opinion  sees  fit  to  sanction  evasions  of  the  statute. 
As  long  as  the  weight  of  the  system  is  not  intolerable  to  the  com- 
munity, every  thing  will  move  quietly;  but  as  soon  as  the  burden  of 
illegal  interest  becomes  intolerable,  the  laws  will  be  put  in  force  in 
obedience  to  the  demand  of  the  public,  and  the  evil  will  be  abated 
to  a  certain  extent.  We  confess  that  it  is  hard  for  the  borrower 
to  be  obliged  to  pay  the  broker,  to  pay  also  for  the  wear  and  tear  of 
the  lender's  conscience,  but  we  think  it  would  be  worse  for  him  if  a 
few  lenders  should  obtain  a  monopoly  of  the  market.  And  when 
the  usury  laws  are  repealed,  what  earthly  power  will  exist  capable 
of  preventing  them  from  exercising  this  monopoly?  But  liere  an  in- 
teresting question  presents  itself:  '"What  is  the  limit  of  the  power 
of  the  lender  over  the  borrower? 

ACTUAL  VALUE  AND   LEGAL  VALUE. 

Let  us  first  explain  thedifference  between  legal  value  and  actual 
value.*  It  is  evident,  that,  if  every  bank-bill  in  the  country  should 
suddenly  be  destroyed,  no  actual  value  would  be  destroyed,  except 
perhaps  to  the  extent  of  the  value  of  so  much  waste  paper.  The 
holders  of  the  bills  would  lose  their  money,  but  the  banks  would 
gain  the  same  amount,  because  thoy  would  no  longer  be  liable  to  be 
called  upon  to  reuccMn  their  bills  in  specie.  Legal  value  is  the  legal 
claim  which  one  man  has  upon  property  in  the  hands  of  another. 
No  matter  how  much  legal  value  you  destroy,  you  cannot  by  that 
process  banish  a  single  dollar's  worth  of  actual  value,  though  you 
may  do  a  great  injustice  to  individuals.  lUit  if  you  destroy  the  sil- 
ver dollars  in  the  banks,  you  indict  a  great  loss  on  the  community 
for  an  importation  of  specie  would  have  to  be  made  to  meet  the  exi 


J  » 


*The  reader  is  requested  to  notice  this  distliictioii  between  actual  and 
legal  value,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  it  again. 


12  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

gencies  of  the  currency,  and  this  importation  would  have  to  be  paid 
for  in  goods  and  commodities  which  are  of  actual  value.  When  a 
ship  goes  down  at  sea  with  her  cargo  on  board,  so  much  actual  value 
is  lost.  But,  on  the  other  hana,  when  an  owner  loses  his  ship  in 
some  unfortunate  speculation,  so  that  the  ownership  passes  from 
his  hands  into  the  hands  of  some  other  person,  there  may  be  no  loss 
of  actual  value,  as  in  the  case  of  shipwreck,  for  the  loss  may  be  a 
mere  change  of  ownership. 

The  national  debt  of  England  exceeds  84.000,000,000.  If  there 
were  enough  gold  sovereigns  in  the  world  to  pay  this  debt,  and  these 
sovereigns  should  be  laid  beside  each  other,  touching  each  other, 
and  in  a  straight  line,  the  line  thus  formed  would  be  much  more 
than  long  enough  to  furnish  a  belt  of  gold  extending  around  the 
earth.  Yet  all  this  debt  is  mere  legal  value.  If  all  the  obligations 
by  which  this  debt  is  held  were  destroyed,  the  holders  of  the  debt 
would  become  poorer  by  the  amount  of  legal  value  destroyed;  but 
those  who  are  bound  by  the  obligations  (the  tax-paying  people  of 
England)  would  gain  to  tlie  same  amount.  Destroy  all  this  legal 
value,  and  England  would  be  as  rich  after  the  destruction  as  it  was 
before;  because  no  actual  value  would  have  been  affected.  The 
destruction  of  the  legal  value  would  merely  cause  a  vast  change  in 
the  ownership  of  property;  making  some  classes  richer,  and.  of 
course,  others  poorer  to  precisely  the  same  extent;  but  if  you  should 
destroy  actual  value  to.  the  amount  of  this  debt  you  would  destroy 
about  thirteen  times  as  much  actual  value  (machinery,  houses,  im- 
provements, products,  etc.)  as  exist  at  present  in  the  state  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. Tiie  sudden  destruction  of  §4,000,000.000  worth  of  actual 
value  would  turn  the  British  Islands  into  a  desert.  Many  persons 
are  unable  to  account  for  the  vitality  of  the  English  government. 
The  secret  is  partly  as  follows:  The  whole  property  of  England  is 
taxed  yearly,  say  three  per  cent,  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  public 
debt.  The  amount  raised  for  this  purpose  is  paid  over  to  those  who 
own  the  obligations  which  constitute  this  legal  value.  The  people 
of  England  are  thus  divided  into  classes,  one  class  is  taxed  and  pays 
the  interest  on  tlie  debt,  the  other  class  receives  the  interest  and 
lives  upon  it.  The  class  which  receives  the  interest  knows  very 
well  that  a  revolution  would  be  followed  by  either  a  repudiation  of 
the  national  debt,  or  its  immediate  payment  by  means  of  a  ruinous 
tax  on  property.  This  class  knows  that  the  nation  would  bo  no 
poorer  if  the  debt  were  repudiated  or  paid.  It  knows  that  a  large 
portion  of  tin;  people  Inok  upon  the  debt  as  being  the  result  of  aris- 
tocratic obstinacy  in  carrying  on  aristocratic  wars  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  aristocratic  purposes.  When,  therefore,  the  govern- 
ment wants  votes,  it  looks  to  this  privileged  class;  wher)  it  wants 
orators  and  writers,  it  looks  to  this  same  class;  when  it  wants  spe- 
cial constables  to  put  down  insurrection,  it  applies  to  this  same 
class.  The  people  of  England  pay  yearly  *l:-'0.(K»0.000  (the  interest 
of  the  debt)  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  a  conservative  class,  whose 


THE  USURY  LAWS.  13 

function  it  is  to  prevent  all  change,  and  therefore  all  improvement 
in  the  condition  of  the  empire.  The  owners  of  the  public  debt,  the 
pensioners,  the  holders  of  sinecure  offices,  the  nobility,  and  the 
functionaries  of  the  Established  Church,  are  the  Spartans  who 
rule  over  the  English  Laconians,  Helots,  and  Slaves.  When  such 
powerful  support  is  enlisted  in  favor  of  an  iniquitous  social  order, 
there  is  very  little  prospect  left  of  any  amelioration  in  the  condition 
of  the  people. 

THE  MATTER  BROUGHT  NEARER  HOME. 

But  let  us  bring  the  matter  nearer  home.  The  assessors'  valua- 
tion of  the  property  in  the  state  of  INIassachusetts  in  1790  was  §44,- 
024,349.  In  1840  it  was  8299,880,33a  The  increase,  therefore,  during 
fifty  years,  was  $255,855,989.  This  is  the  increase  of  actual  value. 
If,  now,  the  §44,024,349  which  the  state  possessed  in  1790  had  been 
owned  by  a  class,  and  had  been  loaned  to  the  community  on  six 
mouths'  notes,  regularly  renewed,  at  six  per  cent  interest  per  an- 
num, and  the  interest,  as  it  fell  due,  had  itself  been  continually  put 
out  at  interest  on  the  same  terms,  that  accumulated  interest  would 
have  amounted  in  flfty  years  to  8885,.524,246.  This  is  the  increase  of 
the  legal  value.  A  simple  comparison  will  show  us  that  the  legal 
value  would  have  increased  three  times  as  fast  as  the  actual  value 
has  increased. 

Suppose  5,000  men  to  own  $30,000  each;  suppose  these  men  to 
move,  with  their  families,  to  some  desolate  place  in  the  state, 
where  there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  profitable  pursuit  of  the  occu- 
pations either  of  commerce,  agriculture,  or  manufacturing.  The 
united  capital  of  these  5,000  men  would  be  $150,000,000.  Suppose, 
now,  this  capital  to  be  safely  invested  in  different  parts  of  the 
state;  suppose  these  men  to  be,  each  of  them,  heads  of  families, 
comprising,  on  an  average,  five  persons  each,  this  would  give  us,  in 
all.  25.000  individuals.  A  servant  to  each  family  would  give  us 
5,000  persons  more,  and  these  added  to  the  above  number  would 
give  us  30.000  in  all.  Suppose,  now,  that  5,000  mechanics— shoe- 
makers, bakers,  butchers,  etc.— should  settle  with  their  families  in 
the  neighborhood  of  these  capitalists,  in  order  to  avail  themselves 
of  their  custom.  Allowing  five  to  a  family,  as  before,  we  have  25,- 
000  to  add  to  the  above  number.  We  have,  therefore,  in  all,  a  city 
of  55,000  individuals,  established  in  the  most  desolate  part  of  the 
state.  The  people  in  the  rest  of  the  state  would  have  to  pay  to  the 
capitalists  of  this  city  six  per  cent  on  $150,000,000  every  year;  for 
these  capitalists  have,  by  the  sui)position,  this  amount  out  at  inter- 
est on  bond  and  mortgage,  or  otherwise.  The  yearly  interest  on 
fl50.tKK).f)(X),  at  six  per  cent,  is  $9.(KX),0()0.  These  wealthy  individuals 
may  do  no  useful  work  whatever,  and.  nevertheless,  they  levy  a  tax 
of  $9,000,000  per  annum  on  the  industry  of  the  state.  The  tax  would 
be  paid  in  this  way.  Some  money  would  be  brought  to  tlie  new 
city,  and   much   produce;    the  produce  would   be  sold  for  money  to 


14  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

the  capitalists,  and  with  the  money  thus  obtained,  added  to  the 
other,  the  debtors  would  pay  the  interest  due.  The  capitalists 
would  have  their  choice  of  the  best  the  state  produces,  and  the 
mechanics  of  the  city,  who  receive  money  from  the  capitalists,  the 
next  choice.  Now,  how  would  all  this  be  looked  upon  by  the  people 
of  the  commonwealth?  There  would  be  a  general  rejoicing  over 
the  excellent  market  for  produce  which  had  grown  up  in  so  unex- 
pected a  place,  and  the  people  would  suppose  the  existence  of  this 
city  of  financial  horse- leeches  to  be  one  of  the  main  pillars  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  state. 

Each  of  these  capitalists  would  receive  yearly  S1.800,  the  inter- 
est on  $30,000,  on  which  to  live.  Suppose  he  lives  on  .?fKX),  the  half 
of  his  income,  and  lays  the  other  half  by  to  portion  off  his  children 
as  they  come  to  marriageable  age,  that  they  may  start  also  with 
S30,00()  capital,  even  as  he  did.  This  SlKX)  which  he  lays  by  every 
year  would  have  to  be  invested.  Themen  of  business,  the  men  of 
talent,  in  the  state,  would  see  it  well  invested  for  him.  Some  intel- 
ligent man  would  discover  that  a  new  railroad,  canal,  or  other  pub- 
lic work  was  needed;  he  would  survey  the  ground,  draw  a  plan  of 
the  work,  and  make  an  estimate  of  the  expenses;  then  ho  would  go 
to  this  new  city  and  interest  the  capitalists  in  the  matter.  The  capi- 
talists would  furnish  money,  the  people  of  the  state  would  furnish 
labor;  the  people  would  dig  the  dirt,  hew  the  wood,  and  draw  the 
water.  The  intelligent  man  who  devised  the  plan  would  receive  a 
salary  for  superintending  the  work,  the  people  would  receive  day's 
wages,  and  the  capitalists  would  own  the  whole;  for  did  they  not 
furnish  the  money  that  paid  for  the  construction?  Taking  a  scien- 
tific view  of  the  matter,  we  may  suppose  the  capitalists  not  to  work 
at  all;  for  th(!  mere  fact  of  their  controlling  the  money  would  insure 
all  these  results.  V\'e  suppose  them,  therefore,  not  to  work  at  ail; 
we  suppose  them  to  receive,  each  of  them.  $1,800  a  year;  we  suppose 
them  to  live  on  one-half  of  this,  or  SIWO,  and  to  lay  up  the  other 
half  for  thi;ir  children.  We  suppose  new-married  couples  to  spring 
up,  in  their  proper  season,  out  of  these  families,  and  that  these  new 
coup'es  start,  also,  each  with  a  capital  of  .?3(),(M)(J.  We  ask  now.  is 
there  no  danger  of  this  new  city's  absorbing  unto  itself  the  greater 
portion  of  the  wealth  of  the  state? 

'J'liere  is  n<i  city  in  this  commonwealth  that  comes  fully  up  to 
this  kli'/d\  of  li /'(tine  a  fit  and  i)arasite  city ;  but  there  is  no  city  in  the 
state  in  which  this  ideal  is  not  more  or  less  completely  embodied. 

Suppose,  when  Virginia  was  settled  in  lilOT,  Knglaud  had  sold 
the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States  to  the  first  settlcMS  for 
11,000,  and  had  taken  a  mortgage  for  this  sum  on  the  whohi  i)rop- 
erty.  $1,0(K)  at  seven  per  cent  per  annum,  on  iialf-yearly  notes,  tl:e 
interest  collected  and  rcloaned  as  it  f(^ll  due,  would  amount,  in  the 
interval  between  1G()7  and  18.50,  to  ?10,777,21().000.  All  the  property 
in  the  IJnitfcl  States,  scjveral  times  ovisr,  would  not  pay  this  debt. 

If  the  reader  is  intercisted  in  this  matter  of  the  comparative 


THE  USURY  LAWS.  15 

rate  of  increase  of  actual  and  legal  value,  let  him  consult  the 
treatise  of  Edward  Kellogg  on  "Labor  and  Other  Capital,"  where 
he  will  find  abundant  information  on  all  these  points. 

How  many  farmers  are  there  who  can  give  six  per  cent  interest 
and  ultimately  pay  for  a  farm  they  have  bought  on  credit? 

THE  ANSWER. 

What  answer,  then,  shall  we  return  to  the  question  relating  to 
the  power  of  the  lender  over  the  borrower?  We  are  forced  to  an- 
swer, that  the  borrowing  community  is,  under  the  existing  system 
of  credit,  virtually,  according  to  appearances,  in  the  complete 
control  of  the  lending  community.  A  considerable  time  must  elapse# 
before  this  control  is  actually  as  well  as  virtually  established,  but 
as  the  ship  in  the  eddy  of  the  mtelstrom  is  bound  to  be  ultimately 
ingulfed,  so  the  producer  of  actual  value  (if  no  change  is  introduced 
in  the  system)  is  bound  to  be  brought  into  ultimate  complete  sub- 
jection to  the  holder  of  legal  value. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  CUKRENCY. 


Gold  and  silver  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  act  as  a  circulating 
medium.  They  are:  1.  Admitted  hy  common  consent  to  serve  for 
•that  purpose.  2.  They  contain  within  themselves  actual  intrinsic 
value,  equivalent  to  the  sum  for  which  they  circulate,  as  security 
against  the  withdrawal  of  this  consent,  or  of  the  public  estimation. 
3.  They  lose  less  by  the  wear  and  tear  and  by  theeffect  of  time,  than 
almost  any  other  commodities;  and,  4.  They  are  divisible  into  all 
and  any  of  the  fractional  parts  into  which  value  may  be,  or  neces- 
sarily is,  divided.  There  is  no  occasion  to  notice  particularly  in  this 
place  the  many  other  advantages  possessed  by  the  precious  metals. 
But  we  must  romomber  that  when  we  exchange  anything  for  specie 
we  barter  one  commodity  for  another.  By  the  adoption  of  a  circu- 
lating medium  we  have  facilitated  barter,  but  we  have  not  done 
away  with  it— we  have  not  destroyed  it.  Specie  is  a  valuable  com- 
modity and  its  adoption  by  society  as  a  medium  of  e.xchange  does 
not  destroy  its  character  as  a  purchasable  and  salable  article. 
Let  Peter  own  a  horse;  let  James  own  a  cow  and  a  pig;  let  James's 
cow  and  pig,  taken  together,  be  worth  precisely  as  much  as  Peter's 
horse;  let  Peter  and  James  desire  to  make  an  exchange;  now,  what 
shall  prevent  them  from  making  the  exchange  by  direct  barter? 
AgainI  let  Peter  own  the  horse;  let  James  own  the  cow;  and  let 
John  own  the  pig.  Peter  cannot  exchange  his  horse  for  the  cow, 
because  he  would  lose  by  the  transaction;  neither— and  for  the 
samereason— can  he  exchange  it  for  the  pig.  The  division  of  the 
horse  would  result  in  the  destruction  of  its  value.  The  hide,  it  is 
true,  poscsses  an  intrinsic  value;  and  a  dead  horse  makes  excellent 
manun;  for  a  graj)evine;  nevertheless,  the  division  of  a  horse  re- 
sults in  the  destruction  of  its  value  as  a  living  animal.  But  if 
Peter  barters  his  horse  with  Paul  for  an  equivalent  in  wheat,  what 
shall  prevent  liini  from  so  dividing  his  wheat  as  to  qualify  himself 
to  offer  to  James  an  equivalent  for  his  cow  and  to  John  an  equiv- 
alent for  his  pig?  If  Peter  trades  thus  with  James  and  John  the 
transaction  is  still  barter,  though  tin;  vvhi^at  .serves  as  currency  and 
obviates  the  dilTiculty  in  making  change.  Now,  if  Paul  has  gold 
and  silver  to  dispose  of  instead  of  wheat,  the  gold  and  silver  are 
still  commodities  posessing  intrinsic  value,  and  every  exchange 
which  Paul  makes  of  these  for  other  commodities  is  always  a 
trati'iaction  in  barter.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  mystification  con- 
nected with  the  ■subject  of  the  currency;  but  if  we  remember  that, 
whi'U  vvf  <i'\\  a  in  thing  for  specie,  we  buy  the  specie,  and  that  when 


THE  CURRENCY.  17 

we  buy  anything  with  specie,  we  sell  the  specie— our  ideas  will 
grow  wonderfully  clear. 

THE  DISADVANTAGES  OF  A  SPECIE  CURRENCY. 

The  governments  of  the  different  nations  have  made  gold  and 
silver  a  legal  tender  In  the  payment  of  debts.  Does  this  legislation 
change  the  nature  of  the  transactions  where  gold  and  silver  are 
exchanged  for  other  desirable  commodities?  Not  at  all.  Does  it 
transform  the  exchange  into  something  other  than  barter?  By  no 
means.  But  the  exchangeable  value  of  any  article  depends  upon 
its  utility,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it.  Now,  the  legislatures, 
by  making  the  precious  metals  a  legal  tender  enhance  their  utility 
in  a  remarkable  manner.  It  is  not  their  absolute  utility,  indeed,  that 
is  enhanced,  but  their  relative  utility  in  the  transactions  of  trade. 
As  soon  as  gold  and  silver  are  adopted  as  the  legal  tender,  they  are 
invested  with  an  altogether  new  utility.  By  means  of  this  new 
utility,  whoever  monopolizes  the  gold  and  silver  of  any  country — 
and  the  currency,  as  we  shall  soon  discover,  is  more  easily  monop- 
olized than  any  other  commodity— obtains  control  thenceforth,. over 
the  business  of  that  country;  for  no  man  can  pay  his  debts  without 
the  permission  of  the  party  who  monopolizes  the  article  of  legal 
tender.  Thus,  since  the  courts  recognize  nothing  as  money  in  the 
payment  of  debts  except  the  article  of  legal  tender,  this  party  is 
enabled  to  levy  a  tax  on  all  transactions  except  such  as  take  place 
without  the  intervention  of  credit. 

When  a  man  is  obliged  to  barter  his  commodity  for  money,  in 
order  to  have  money  to  barter  for  such  other  commodities  as  he 
may  desire,  he  at  once  becomes  subject  to  the  impositions  which 
moneyed  men  know  how  to  practice  on  one  who  wants  and  must 
have  money  for  the  commodity  he  offers  for  sale.  When  a  man  is 
called  upon  suddenly  to  raise  money  to  pay  a  debt,  the  case  is  still 
harder.  Men  whose  property  far  exceeds  the  amount  of  their  debts 
in  value— men  who  have  much  more  owing  to  thom  than  they  owe 
to  others— are  daily  distressed  for  the  want  of  money;  for  the  want 
of  that  intervening  medium,  which,  even  when  it  is  obtained  in 
sufficient  quantity  for  the  present  purposes,  acts  only  as  a  mere  in- 
strument of  exchange. 

By  adopting  the  precious  metals  as  the  legal  tender  in  the  pay- 
ment of  debts,  society  confers  a  new  value  upon  them,  which  new 
value  is  not  inherent  in  the  metals  themselves.  This  new  value 
becomes  a  marketable  commodity.  Thus  gold  and  silver  become 
a  marketable  commodity  as  (groAD)  a  meditm  of  exchange. 
This  ought  not  so  to  be.  This  new  value  has  no  natural  meastire, 
because  it  is  not  a  natural,  but  a  social  value.  This  new  social 
value  is  inestimable,  it  is  incommensurable  with  any  other  known 
value  whatever.  Thus  money,  instead  of  retaining  its  proper 
relative  position,  becomes  a  superior  species  of  commodity— super- 
ior not  in  degree,  but  in  kind.    Thus  money  becomes  the  absolute 


18  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

king  and  the  demigod  of  commodities.*  Hence  follow  great  social 
and  political  evils.  The  medium  of  exchange  was  not  established 
for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  new,  Inestimable,  marketable  commo- 
dity, but  for  the  single  end  or  purpose  of  facilitating  exchanges. 
Society  established  gold  and  silver  as  an  instrument  to  mediate  be- 
tween marketable  commodities;  but  what  new  instrument  shall  it 
create  to  mediate  between  the  old  marketable  commodities,  and  the 
new  commodity  which  it  has  itself  called  into  being?  And  if  it  suc- 
ceed in  creating  such  new  instrument,  what  mediator  can  it  find  for 
this  new  instrument  itself,  etc.?  Here  the  gulf  yawns!  No  bridge 
save  that  of  usury  has  been  thrown,  as  yet,  over  this  gulf.  Our 
exposition  is  evidently  on  the  brink  of  the  infinite  series;  we  are 
marching  rapidly  forward  to  the  abyss  of  absurdity.  The  logicians 
know  well  what  the  sudden  appearance  of  the  infinite  series  in  an 
investigation  signifies;  it  signifies  the  recognition  of  a  phenomenon 
and  the  assigning  to  it  of  a  mere  concomitant,  to  stand  to  it  in  the 
place  of  cause.  The  phenomenon  we  here  recognize  is  circulation 
or  exchange,  and  we  ignore  its  cause,  for  we  endeavor  to  account 
for  it  by  the  movement  of  specie;  which  movement  is  neither  circu- 
lation nor  the  cause  of  circulation.  But  more  of  this  hereafter.  Let 
us  return  to  the  subject  with  which  wc  are  more  immediately  con- 
cerned; noting,  meanwhile,  that  a  specie  currency  is  an  absurdity. 

THE  EVILS  OF  A  SPECIE  CURKENCY— USURY. 

Society  established  gold  and  silver  as  a  circulating  medium,  in 
order  that  exchanges  of  commodities  might  be  facilitated;  but 
society  made  a  mistake  in  so  doing;  for  by  this  very  act  it  gave  to  a 
certain  class  of  men  the  power  of  saying  what  exchanges  shall,  and 
what  exchan[,2s  shall  not,  be  facilitated  by  means  of  this  very 
circulating  medium.  The  monopolizers  of  the  precious  metals  have 
an  undue  power  over  the  community;  they  can  say  whether  money 
shall,  or  shall  not,  be  permitted  to  exercise  its  legitimate  functions. 
These  men  have  a  veto  on  the  action  of  money,  and  therefore  on 
exchanges  of  commodity;  and  they  will  not  take  o(T  their  veto  un- 
til they  have  received  usury,  or,  as  it  is  more  politely  termed,  inter- 
est on  their  money.  Here  is  the  great  objection  to  the  present  cur- 
rency. Behold  the  manner  in  which  the  absurdity  inherent  in  a 
specie  currency— or,  what  is  still  worse,  in  a  currency  of  paper 
based  upon  specie— manifests  itself  in  actual  operation!  The  me- 
diating value  which  society  hoped  would  facilitate  exclianges  be- 
comes an  absolute  marketable  commodity,  its<'lf  transcending  all 
roach  of  mediation.  Tlie  great  natural  diiliculty  which  originally 
.stood  in  the  way  of  exchang(!S  is  now  thi;  privati!  property  of  a 
class,  and  this  class  cultivate  this  diiliculty,  and  make  money  out 
of  it,  ev(?n  as  a  farmer  cultivates  his  farm  and  makes  moiKiy  by  nis 
labor.    But  there  is  a  difference  between  the  farmer  and  the  usurer; 

•Money  1^  mprfiiiiiKlIsc  .just  like  jiny  other  merchandise,  precisely  as 
thi'  TiirMi'  !•<  .1  card  .just,  like  any  other  card. 


THE  CURRENCY.  19 

for  the  farmer  benefits  the  community  as  well  as  himself,  while 
every  dollar  made  by  the  usurer  Is  a  dollar  taken  from  the  pocket 
of  some  other  individual,  since  the  usurer  cultivates  nothing  but  an 
actual  obstruction. 

THE  MONOPOLY  OF  THK  CURRENCY. 

The  exigencies  of  our  exposition  render  it  necessary  that  we 
should  state  here  three  distinct  points,  as  a  basis  for  certain  re- 
marks that  we  propose  to  submit  to  the  reader: 

1.  Let  us  suppose,  in  order  to  make  a  thorough  estimate  of  the 
amount  of  money  circulating  in  Massachusetts,  that  each  individ- 
ual in  the  state — man,  woman,  or  child — posesses  $10  in  specie,  or  in 
the  bills  of  specie-paying  banks.  The  population  of  the  state  was, 
in  the  year  1850.  about  1.000,000.  Our  estimate  will  give  us,  there- 
fore, about  $10,000,000  as  the  total  amount  of  the  circulating  medi- 
um of  the  state.  This  is  perhaps  a  very  extravagant  supposition: 
but  we  desire  to  make  a  high  estimate,  as  the  greater  the  amount 
of  the  circulating  medium,  the  less  will  be  the  force  of  our  objec- 
tions against  the  existing  currency.  Now,  since  children  seldom 
control  any  money,  our  hypothesis  apportions  to  each  fall-grown 
person  an  average  of  $30 — for  the  children  constitute  at  least  one- 
half  of  the  community;  and  since  women,  who  constitute  one-half 
of  the  grown  population,  generally  leave  their  money  with  their 
husbands  or  fathers,  it  apportions  to  each  full-grown  man  an  aver- 
age of  $40.  We  feel  confident  that  the  reader  will  confess,  after 
consulting  his  pocket-book,  that  our  estimate  marks  as  high  as  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  will  warrant.  But  to  be  certain  that  we 
do  not  fall  below  the  truth,  let  us  double  the  total  sum  and  say  that 
the  amount  of  money  circulating  in  Massachusetts  is,  on  an  aver- 
age. $20.(X)0.000.    This  is  our  first  point. 

2.  The  valuation  of  the  taxable  property  existing  in  the  state 
of  Massachusetts,  was,  for  the  year  IS.'SO,  about  $()00,000.000— or  an 
average  of  about  $600  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  state: 
or  an  average  of  about  $2,400  for  every  family  of  four  persons — no 
contemptiiile  fortune  for  a  workingmanl  Now,  every  person  of 
ordinary  observation  will  recognize  that  this  valuation  is  too  high. 
We  are  willing  to  confess  that  the  wealth  of  the  state  is  unjustly 
distributed;  but  we  are  not  willing  to  confess  that  the  distribution 
is  of  the  absolutely  flagrant  character  indicated  by  the  valuation: 
for  if  a  man  posessing  a,  more  average  amount  of  wealth,  owns  prop- 
erty to  the  value  of  $()00  and  a  like  amount  in  addition  for  his  wife 
and  for  each  of  his  children,  where  is  the  immense  mass  of  wealth 
which  the  average  would  apportion  to  those  who  actually  own  loss 
than  $600;  yes,  to  those  who  actually  own  nothing?  We  conceive 
that  it  is  not  altogether  impossible  to  penetrate  the  motives  which 
induced  the  Valuation  Committee  to  mark  the  wealth  of  the  State 
as  high  as  $6(K),(X)0,000.  Indeed  we  may  take  occasion  as  we  proceed 
with  our  observations  to  indicate  those  motives.    But  let  us  grant. 


20  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  taken  as 
a  whole,  do  actually  own  property  to  the  value  of -S()00, 000.000.  Esti- 
mating as  we  have  done,  the  total  value  of  the  circulating  medium 
at  .*20.000.000,  it  would  follow  that  there  is  one  dollar  of  currency 
for  every  thirty  dollars  of  taxable  property.  This  is  our  second 
point. 

3.  If  Mr.  Kellogg's  statements  are  worthy  of  confidence,  there 
are  in  the  city  of  Boston  234  individuals  who  are  worth,  in  the  ag- 
gregate. S71. 85.5,000.  or  property  to  the  value  of  about  three  and 
one-half  times  the  amount  of  the  whole  circulating  medium  of  the 
commonwealth.    This  is  our  third  point. 

Having  stated  the  three  points  upon  which  our  reasoning  is  to 
turn,  we  will  now  suppose  that  these  individuals  in  Boston,  or  224 
other  persons  of  equal  wealth,  residing  either  in  Boston  or  in  other 
towns  or  cities  in  the  state,  see  fit  to  combine  together  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  the  whole  property  of  the  state  (SGOO.000.000)  into 
their  own  possession.  They  may  accomplish  their  object  by  the 
following  simple  process:  Let  them  gradually  buy  up  desirable 
real  estate  situated  in  various  parts  of  the  commonwealth,  to  the 
value  of  640.000,000— double  the  total  amount  of  the  circulating 
medium.  Then  let  them  sell  this  real  estate  to  different  persons, 
taking  mortgages  for  half  of  its  value  on  the  property,  and  stipu- 
lating that  the  payments  on  the  mortgages  shall  be  made,  all  of 
them,  on  a  certain  specified  day.  Here  is  the  whole  story:  for  mark 
the  consequences!  As  the  day  for  payment  on  the  mortgages  ap- 
proaches, money  will  grow  scarce,  for  the  reason  that  the  purchas- 
ers of  the  real  estate  will  be  preparing  themselves  to  meet  the 
claims  upon  them;  money  will,  by  consequence,  rise  rapidly  in  val- 
ue; trade  v/ill  be  gradually  blocked  up:  and  men  of  undoubted 
wealth  will  be  closely  pressed.  If — and  they  probably  will  not— but 
IF  the  purchasers  of  the  real  estate  actually  pay  their  debts  when 
the  day  comes  round,  then  the  224  confederates  will  have  all  the 
money  of  the  state  in  their  hands.  Meanwhile  the  other  ordinary 
debts  of  the  comiuuiiity— debts  which  arise;  naturally— will  have  to 
be  paid  also;  and  mon<'y,  the  only  legal  tender,  will  be  required  in 
order  to  effect  their  payment.  But  as  no  money  will  he  obtainable, 
the.se  last  debtors  will  fail  and  their  property  will  be  sold  under  the 
hammer  at  a  fraction  of  its  true  value  to  satisfy  their  creditors.  But 
who  will  buy  this  properly?  Who  besides  the  224  confederates  will 
have  any  available  funds?  Tiiese  224  individuals,  by  their  opera- 
tion, notwithstanding  the  los.ses  they  will  inevitably  meetwilh^ 
will  thus  obtain  control,  by  means  of  their  Mj,0<)0,0(K)— a  little  less 
than  one-half  of  their  aggregate  property— of  the  greater  part  of 
the  propf'rly  of  the  state.  There  is  no  danger  that  so  e.xtensive  an 
operation  will  ever  lake  place,  for  transactions  like  this  would  con- 
vulse soci<!ty  to  its  foundations,  and  would  necessarily  be  accom- 
panied by  repudiation,  revolution  and  bloodshed.  But  similar 
operations  on  a  smaller  scale    are    taking  place   every  day.    It  is 


THE  CURRE^^CY.  21 

stated  ill  the  reports  published  by  the  Valuation  Committee  that 
the  money  loaned  out  at  interest  and  returned  as  such  to  the 
assessors  for  the  year  1850,  amounted  in  the  single  county  of 
Worcester,  to  more  than  ?r).000,000— more  than  one-fourth  of  the 
whole  circulating  medium  of  the  commonwealth.  What  must  have 
been  the  consequence  if  all  these  debts  had  happened  to  fall  due  at 
nearly  the  same  time? 

You  cannot  monopolize  corn,  iron  and  other  commodities,  as 
you  can  money:  for  to  do  so.  you  would  be  obliged  to  stipulate  in 
your  sales  that  payment  shall  be  made  to  you  in  those  commodities. 
What  a  commotion  would  exist  in  the  community  if  a  company  of 
capitalists  should  attempt  permanently  to  monopolize  all  the  corn! 
But  money,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  since  it  is  the  oxly  legal 
TENDER,  is  ALWAYS  monopolized.  This  fact  is  the' foundation  of 
the  right  of  society  to  limit  the  rate  of  interest. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  gold  and  silver  do  not  furnish  a 
perfect  medium  of  circulation:  that  they  do  not  furnish  facilities 
for  the  exchange  of  all  commodities.  Gold  and  silver  have  a  value 
as  money:  a  value  which  is  artificial,  and  created  unintention- 
ally by  the  act  of  society  establishing  the  precious  metals  as  a 
legal  tender.  This  new  artificial  value  overrides  all  intrinsic  actu- 
al values,  and  suffers  no  mediation  between  itself  and  them.  Now, 
money,  so  far  forth  as  it  is  mere  money,  ought  to  have  no  value; 
and  the  objection  to  the  use  of  the  precious  metals  as  currency  is, 
that  as  soon  as  they  are  adopted  by  society  as  a  legal  tender,  there  is 
superadded  to  their  natural  value  this  new,  artificial  and  unnatural 
value.  Gold  and  silver  cannot  facilitate  the  purchase  of  this  new 
value  which  is  added  to  themselves;  "a  mediator  is  not  a  mediator 
of  one."  USURY  is  the  characteristic  fact  of  the  present  system 
of  civilization;  and  usury  depends  for  its  existence  upon  this  super- 
added, social,  unnatural  value,  which  is  given  artificially  to  the 
material  of  the  circulating  medium.  Destroy  the  value  of  this 
material  as  money  (not  its  utility  or  availability  in  exchange)  and 
you  destroy  the  possibility  of  usury.  Can  this  be  done  so  long  as 
material  is  gold  or  silver?    No. 

Whatever  is  adopted  as  the  medium  of  exchange  should  be  free 
from  the  above-named  objections.  It  should  serve  the  purpose  of 
facilitating ^\LL  exchanges:  it  should  have  no  value  as  money:  it 
should  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  permit  nothing  marketable,  noth- 
ing that  can  be  bought  or  sold,  to  transcend  the  sphere  of  its 
mediation.  It  should  exist  in  such  quantity  as  to  effect  all  ex- 
changes which  may  be  desirable.  It  should  be  co-existent  in  time 
and  place  with  such  property  as  is  destined  for  the  market.  It 
should  be  sufficiently  abundant  and  easy  of  acquirement,  to  answer 
all  the  legitimate  purposes  of  money.  It  should  be  capable  of  being 
expanded  to  any  extent  that  may  be  demanded  by  the  wants  of  the 
community:  for  if  the  currency  be  not  suflficiently  abundant,  it  re- 
tards instead  of  facilitating  exchanges.    On  the  other  hand,  this 


22  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

medium  of  exchange  should  be  sufficiently  difficult  of  acquirement 
to  keep  it  within  just  limits. 

Can  a  currency  be  devised  which  shall  fulfill  all  these  condi- 
tions? Can  a  currency  be  adopted  which  shall  keep  money  always 
just  plenty  enough,  without  suffering  it  ever  to  become  too  plenty? 
Can  such  a  currency  be  established  on  a  firm,  scientific  foundation,  so 
that  we  may  know  beforehand  that  it  will  work  well  from  the  very 
first  moment  of  its  establishment?  Can  a  species  of  money  be 
found  which  shall  posess  every  quality  which  it  is  desirable  that 
money  should  have,  while  it  posesses  no  quality  which  it  is  desir- 
able that  money  should  not  have?  To  all  these  questions  we 
answer,  emphatically,  YES! 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  currency:    ITS  EVII.S  AND  THEIR  REMEDY. 

Bank-bills  are  doubly  guaranteed.  On  one  side  there  is  the 
capital  of  the  bank,  which  is  liable  for  the  redemption  of  the  bills 
in  circulation;  on  the  other  side  are  the  notes  of  the  debtors  of  the 
bank,  which  notes  are  (or  ought  to  be,  if  the  bank  officers  exercise 
due  caution  and  discretion)  a  sufficient  guaranty  for  all  the  bills:  for 
no  bills  are  issued  by  any  bank,  except  upon  notes  whereby  some  re- 
sponsible person  is  bound  to  restore  to  the  bank,  after  a  certain 
lapse  of  time,  money  to  the  amount  borne  on  the  face  of  the  bills. 
If  the  notes  given  by  the  receivers  of  the  bills  are  good,  then  the 
bills  themselves  are  also  good.  If  we  reflect  a  moment  upon  these 
facts,  we  shall  see  that  a  bank  of  discount  and  circulation  is  in 
reality,  two  banks  in  one.  There  is  one  bank  which  does  business 
on  the  specie  capital  really  paid  in;  there  is  another  and  a  v-ery 
different  bank,  which  does  business  by  issuing  bills  in  exchange  for 
notes  whereby  the  receivers  of  the  bills  give  security  that  there 
shall  be  paid  back  by  a  certain  time,  money  to  the  amount  of  the 
bills  issued.  Let  us  now  investigate  the  nature  of  these  two  differ- 
ent banks. 

THE  BUSINESS  OF  BANKING. 

Peter  goes  into  the  banking  business  with  one  dollar  capital, 
and  immediately  issues  bills  to  the  amount  of  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents.  Let  us  say  that  he  issues  five  bills,  each  of 
which  is  to  circulate  for  the  amount  of  twenty-five  cents.  James 
comes  to  the  bank  with  four  of  Peter's  bills,  and  says:  "Here  are 
four  of  your  new  twenty-five  cent  notes  which  purport  to  be  payable 
on  demand,  and  I  will  thank  you  to  givemea  silver  dollar  forthem." 
Peter  redeems  the  bills  and  in  so  doing  pays  out  his  whole  capital. 
Afterward  comes  John,  with  the  fifth  note,  and  makes  a  demand 
similar  to  that  lately  made  by  James.  Peter  answers,  slowly  and 
hesitatingly:  "I  regret— exceedingly— the  force  of  present  circum- 
stances; but— I — just  paid— out  my  whole  capital— to  James.  I  am 
— under — the  painful  necessity — of  requesting  you — to  wait  a  little 
longer  for  your  money."  John  at  once  becomes  indignant  and 
says:  "Yonr  bills  state  on  their  face  that  you  will  pay  twenty-five 
cents  upon  each  one  of  them  whenever  they  are  presented.  I  present 
one  NOW.  Give  me  the  money,  therefore,  without  more  words,  for 
my  business  is  urgent  this  morning."  Peter  answers:  "I  shall  be 
in  a  condition  to  redeem  my  bills  by  the  day  after  tomorrow;  but 
for  the  meanwhile,  my  regard  for  the  interest  of  the  public  forces 
me  unwillingly  to  suspend  specie  payments."  "Suspend  specie  pay- 
ments!" says  John.    "What  other  kind  of  payment,  under  Heaven, 


24  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

could  you  suspend?  You  agree  to  pay  specie;  for  specie  is  the  only 
legal  tender  and  when  you  don't  pay  that,  you  don't  pay  anything. 
When  you  don't  pay  that  you  break.  Why  don't  you  own  up  at 
once?  But  while  I  am  about  it  I  will  give  you  a  piece  of  ray  mind; 
this  extra  note  which  you  have  issued  beyond  your  capital  is  a  vain 
phantom,  a  hollow  humbug  and  a  fraud.  And  as  for  your  bank, 
you  would  better  take  in  your  sign;  for  you  have  broken."  "These 
be  very  bitter  words,"  as  said  the  hostess  of  the  Boar's  Head 
Tavern  at  Eastcheap. 

John  is  right.  Peter's  capital  is  all  gone  and  the  note  for 
twenty- Ave  cents,  which  professes  to  represent  specie  in  Peter's 
vaults,  represent  the  tangibility  of  an  empty  vision,  the  shadow  of 
a  vacuum.  But  which  bank  is  it  that  is  broken?  Is  it  the  bank 
that  does  business  on  a  specie  capital,  or  the  bank  which  does 
business  on  the  notes  of  the  debtors  to  the  bank?  Evidently  it  is 
the  bank  that  does  business  on  the  specie  capital  that  is  broken;  it 
is  the  specie- paying  bank  that  has  ceased  to  exist. 

John  understands  this  very  well  notwithstanding  his  violent 
language  a  moment  since,  he  knows  that  his  is  the  only  bill  which 
Peter  has  in  circulation,  and  that  Peter  owes,  consequently,  only 
twenty-five  cents;  he  knows  also  that  the  bank  has  owing  to  it  one 
dollar  and  twenty-five  cents.  Peter  owes  twenty-tive  cents  and 
has  owing  to  him  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents.  John  feels, 
therefore,  perfectly  safe.  What  is  John's  security?  Is  it  the  spe- 
cie capital?  Not  at  all.  James  has  taken  the  whole  of  that.  He 
has  for  his  security  the  debts  which  are  owing  to  the  bank.  Peter's 
bank  begins  now  to  be  placed  in  a  sound,  philosophical  condition. 
At  first  he  promised  to  pay  one  dollar  and  twenty-tive  cents  in 
specie,  while  he  actually  posessed  only  one  dollar  with  which  to  meet 
the  demands  that  might  be  made  upon  him.  How  could  he  have 
made  a  more  unreasonable  promise,  even  if  he  had  tried?  Now 
that  he  has  suspended  specie  payments,  he  has  escaped  from  the 
nnphilosophical  situation  in  which  he  so  rashly  placed  himself. 
Peter's  bank  is  still  in  operation— it  is  by  no  means  broken;  hi.s  bills 
are  good,  guaranteed,  and  worthy  of  considerable  confidence;  only 
his  bank  is  now  a  simple  and  not  a  complex  bank,  being  no  longer 
two  banks  in  one,  for  the  specie-paying  element  has  vanished  in  in- 
finite darkness. 

CURRKNCV. 

And  here  we  may  notice  that  Peter  has  solved,  after  a  rough 
manner  indeed,  one  of  the  most  difficult  questions  in  political 
fcoiiomy.  His  bill  for  twenty-five  cents  is  curkkncy,  and  yet  it  is 
not  based  upon  specie,  iiur  directly  connected  in  any  way  with 
specie.  We  would  request  the  reader  to  be  patient  with  us  and  not 
make  up  his  mind  in  regard  lo  our  statements  until  he  has  read  to 
the  end  of  the  chapter;  it  shall  not  be  very  long.  Light  bn^aks  on 
»js  here,  which  we  would  endeavor  to  impart  to  the  reader.  The 
security  for  the  bill  is  legal  value,  the  security  in  actual  value  hav- 


THE  CURRENCY:  ITS  EVILS— THEIR  REMEDY.    25 

ing  been  carried  away  by  James— that  is,  the  security  for  the  bill  is 
the  legal  claim  which  the  bank  has  upon  the  property  of  its  debt- 
ors. We  see.  therefore,  that  legal  value  may  be  made  a  basis  for 
the  issue  of  notes  to  serve  as  currency;  we  see,  therefore,  the  faint 
indication  of  a  means  whereby  we  may  perhaps  emancipate  our- 
selves from  the  bondage  of  hard  money,  and  the  worse  bondage  of 
paper  which  pretends  to  bo  a  represpntalive  of  hard  money. 

Let  the  reader  not  be  alarmed.  We  abominate  banks  that  sus- 
pend specie  payment  as  much  as  he  does.  The  run  of  our  argu- 
ment leads  us  through  this  desolate  valley;  but  we  shall  soon 
emerge  into  the  clear  day.  Good  may  come  out  of  this  dark  region, 
although  we  never  expected  to  find  it  here.  For  our  part,  how- 
ever, we  will  freely  confess,  in  private  to  the  reader,  that  we  have 
lately  been  so  accustomed  to  see  good  come  out  of  Nazareth  that 
we  have  acquired  the  habit  of  never  expecting  it  from  any  other 
quarter.  Let  us  spend  a  moment,  therefore,  in  exploring  this  bank- 
ing Nazareth. 

We  may  notice  in  considering  a  bank  that  has  suspended  specie 
payments:  1.  The  bank  officers,  who  are  servants  of  the  stock- 
HOLDEKS;  2.  The  BILLS  which  are  issued  by  the  bank- officers,  and 
which  circulate  in  the  community  as  money:  and,  3.  The  notes  of 
the  debtors  of  the  bank,  binding  these  debtors,  which  notes,  depos- 
ited in  the  safe,  are  security  for  the  bills  issued.  Let  us  now  take 
for  Illustration,  a  non-specie-paying  bank  that  shall  be  "perfect 
after  its  kind;"  that  is  a  bank  whose  capital  shall  be,  in  actual 
value,  literally=0.  Suppose  there  are  100  stockholders;  suppose 
flOO.OOO  worth  of  bills  to  be  in  circulation  and  that  ?100,000  legal 
value  is  secured  to  the  bank  by  notes  given  by  the  bank's  debtors. 
These  stockholders  will  be  remarkable  individuals,  doing  business 
after  a  very  singular  fashion.  For  example:  The  stockholders 
own  stock  in  this  bank;  but  as  the  whole  joint  stock  equals  zero, 
each  stock-holder  evidently  owns  only  the  one-hundredth  part  of 
nothing — a  species  of  property  that  counts  much  or  little,  according 
to  the  skillfulness  with  which  it  is  administored.  The  stockholders, 
through  the  agency  of  the  bank-officers,  issue  their  paper,  bearing 
NO  interest;  exchanging  it  for  other  paper,  furnished  by  those 
who  receive  the  bills,  bearing  interest  at  the  r.\te  of  six 
PER  cent  per  annum.  The  paper  received  by  the  bank  binds  the 
debtor  to  the  bank  to  pay  interest:  while  the  paper  issued  by  the 
bank  puts  it  under  no  obligation  to  pay  any  interest  at  all.  Thus 
the  stockholders  doing  business  with  no  capital  whatever,  make  six 
per  cent  per  annum  on  a  pretended  .?100.0(X)  of  actual  value  which 
does  not  existl  Yet,  meanwhile,  these  stockholders  furnish  the 
community  with  an  available  currency:  this  fact  ought  always  to 
be  borne  in  mind.  Non-specie-paying  banks,  of  course,  make  div- 
idends. I)\iring  the  suspension  of  1837  and  1838.  all  the  banks  of 
Pennsylvania  made  dividends,  although  it  was  prohibited  in  the 
charters  of  most  of  them.    After  the  suspension   which  took  place 


26  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

in  Philadelphia  in  October,  1839,  most  of  the  banks  of  that  city  re- 
solved not  to  declare  dividends  until  the  pleasure  of  the  legislature 
could  be  known.  By  an  act  authorizing  the  continuance  of  the 
suspension  until  the  15th  of  January,  1841,  permission  was  granted 
to  make  dividends,  contrary  to  every  principle  of  justice  and  equity. 
We  do  not  know  why  we  speak  especially  of  the  Pennsylvania 
banks  in  this  connection;  as  we  have  yet  to  hear  of  the  first  bank, 
either  in  Pennsylvania  or  in  any  other  Slate,  that  has  had  the  deli- 
cacy to  suspend  the  declaration  of  dividends  merely  because  it  sus- 
pended specie  payments. 

THE  MUTUAL  BANK. 

Our  non-specie-paying  bank  being  in  the  interesting  position 
described,  let  us  inquire  whether  it  is  not  in  the  process  of  bringing 
forth  something  which  shall  be  entirely  different  from  itself.  We 
ask  tirst,  why  a  non-specie-paying  bank  should  be  permitted  to 
make  dividends.  Its  bills  are  perfectly  good,  whether  the  bank 
have  any  capital  or  not,  provided  the  officers  exercise  due  discre- 
tion in  discounting  notes;  audit  is  evident  that  the  stockholders 
have  no  riglit  to  ask  to  be  paid  for  the  use  of  their  capital,  since  the 
capital  in  qui'Stion  ought  to  be  specie,  wiiich  tiiey  confess,  by  sus- 
pending specie  payments,  that  they  do  not  furnish.  Hut  if  no  div- 
idends are  to  be  declared,  what  are  we  to  do  with  the  immense 
amount  of  interest-money  tliat  will  accumulate  in  the  bank.  Our 
answer  to  this  question  is  so  simple  that  we  are  almost  ashamed  to 
siate  it.  Justice  requires  that  all  the  interest-money  accumulated 
— so  much  only  excepted  as  is  required  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
institution  and  the  average  of  loss  by  bad  debts — should  be  paid 
back  to  the  borrowers  in  the  proportion  of  the  business  which  they 
have  individually  done  with  the  bank.  But  since  it  would  be  by  no 
means  easy,  practically,  to  thus  pay  the  extra  interest-money  back, 
it  would  be  better  for  the  bank  to  turn  the  difficulty  by  lending  its 
money  at  i)recisely  that  rate  of  interest  and  no  more,  say  one  per 
cent  per  annum,  which  would  suffice  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  in- 
stitution, including  the  average  loss  by  bad  debts.  A  bank  of  this 
character  would  be  a  MuTu.vi.  Bank.  This  is  not  the  institution 
we  advocate  and  of  which  we  propose  to  submit  a  plan  to  the 
reader;  but  it  will  serve  in  this  place  for  tlie  purposes  of  illustra- 
tion. A  bank  that  suspends  specie  payments  may  present  two  evi- 
dent advantages  to  tlie  community— first,  it  may  furnish  a  cur- 
rency: second,  it  may  loan  out  its  bills  at  one  per  cent  interest  per 
annum.  Tliat  such  a  bank  may  furnish  currency  is  proved  by 
abundant  experience,  for  suspending  banks  go  right  on  with  their 
business,  and  that  their  money  circulat(>s  well  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  such  hanks  have  liitherto  seldom  failed  to  declare  good  divi- 
dends. That  they  may  loan  their  money  at  one  per  cent  interest 
per  annum  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  old  hanks  do  not  pay  more 
than  one  |)er  cent  per  annum  for  their  exi)enses,  including  losses  by 
bad  debts,  and  that  liif  guaranty  of  the   new   bills  consists  In   the 


THE  CURRENCY:  ITS  EVILS— THEIR  REMEDY.    27 

excellence  of  the  notes  furnished  by  the  borrower,  so  that, 
if  there  is  anything  to  be  paid  for  this  guaranty,  it  ought  to 
be  paid  to  the  borrower  himself,  and  not  to  any  other  person. 
We  will  not  prolong  this  exposition,  since  a  multiplicity  of  words 
would  serve  only  to  darken  the  subject.  We  invite  the  reader  to 
reflect  for  himself  upon  the  matter  and  to  form  his  own  conclu- 
sions. AVe  repeat  that  we  do  not  advocate  a  bank  of  the  nature 
here  described,  since  we  conceive  that  such  an  institution  would  be 
eminently  unsafe  and  dangerous,  and  for  a  hundred  reasons  among 
which  may  be  counted  the  inordinate  power  that  would  be  con- 
ferred on  the  bank's  oflficers;  but,  as  we  said  before,  it  may  serve 
for  illustration.  Neither  do  we  propose  this  plan  as  a  theoretical 
solution  of  the  difficulties  noticed  in  the  preceeding  chapters  as 
inseparable  from  the  existing  currency.  We  reserve  our  own  plan, 
and  shall  submit  it  to  the  reader  at  the  end  of  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MUTUAL  BANKING. 

In  the  title-page  of  a  book  on  "Money  and  Banking,*"  pub- 
lisliod  at  Cincinnati,  tlie  name  of  William  Beck  appears,  not  as 
antlior,  but  as  publisher;  yet  there  is  internal  evidence  in  the  book 
sufficient  to  prove  that  Mr.  Beck  is  the  author.  But  who  was  or  is 
Mr.  Beck?  What  were  his  experience  and  history?  Is  he  still  liv- 
ing? No  one  appears  to  know.  He  seems  to  stand  like  one  of 
Ossian's  heroes,  surrounded  with  clouds,  solitude  and  mystery.  In 
the  [)ages  of  Froudhon,  socialism  appears  as  an  avenging  fury, 
clothed  in  garments  dipped  in  the  sulphur  of  the  bottomless  pit  and 
armed  for  the  punishment  of  imbeciles,  liars,  scoundrels,  cowards 
and  tyrants;  in  those  of  Mr.  Beck,  she  presents  herself  as  a  con- 
structive and  beneficent  genius,  the  rays  of  her  heavenly  glory 
intercepted  by  a  double  veil  of  simplicity  and  modesty.  Mr.  Beck's 
style  has  none  of  the  infernal  tire  and  i>rofanity  which  cause  the 
reader  of  the  "Contradictions  Economiques"  to  shudder;  you  seek  in 
vain  in  his  sentences  for  the  vigor  and  intense  self-consciousness  of 
Proudhon;  yet  the  thoughts  of  Proudhon  are  there.  One  wovild 
suppose  from  the  naturalness  of  his  manner,  that  he  was  altogether 
ignorant  of  the  novelty  and  true  magnitude  of  his  ideas. 

MR.   beck's  bank. 

In  Mr.  Beck's  plan  for  a  Mutual  Bank — which  consists  in  a 
simple  generalization  of  the  system  of  credit  in  account  that  is  well 
described  in  the  following  extract  from  J.  Stuart  Mill's  "Political 
Economy" — there  isone  fault  only;  buttliat  fault  is  fatal;  it  is  that 
the  people  can  never  be  induced  to  adopt  the  complicated  method 
of  accounts  which  would  be  rendered  necessary: 

"A  mode  of  making  credit  answer  the  purposes  of  moncsy,  by 
which,  when  carried  far  enough,  money  may  be  very  completely  su- 
perseded, consists  in  making  payments  by  checks.  The  custom  of 
keeping  the  span;  cash  reserved  for  immediate  use  or  against  con- 
tingent demands,  in  the  liands  of  a  banker  and  making  all  pay- 
ments, except  small  ones,  by  orders  on  bankers,  is  in  tliis  country 
spreading  to  a  continually  larger  portion  of  tlie  |)ublic.  If  the  i)er- 
son  making  the  payment  and  the  person  receiving  it  kept  their 
money  with  the  same  banker,  the  payment  would  take  place  witii- 
out  any  intervention  of  money,  by  tin;  mere  transfer  of  its  amount 


•"Money  and  R.'inkiiin,  or  Tlielr  Nature  jind  Effects  ("onsidcriHl;  To- 
RCther  With  a  Plan  for  tlie  Universal  nifTiisioii  of  Tlieir  Lcj^'itimato 
Benefits  WItlioutTlieir  Evils."  Hy  A  Citizen  of  Oliio.  Cincinnati:  Pub- 
lished by  William  Keck,  IKJl).:  Ifinio,  pp.212. 


MUTUAL   BANKING.  29 

in  the  banker's  books  from  the  credit  of  the  payer  to  that  of  the  re- 
ceiver. If  all  persons  in  London  kept  their  cash  at  the  same  bank- 
er's and  made  all  their  payments  by  means  of  checks,  no  money 
would  be  required  or  used  for  any  transactions  beginning  and  ter- 
minating in  London.  This  ideal  limit  is  almost  attained  in  fact,  so 
far  as  regards  transactions  between  dealers.  It  is  chiefly  in  the  re- 
tail transactions  between  dealers  and  consumers,  and  in  the  pay- 
ment of  wages,  that  money  or  bank-notes  now  pass  and  then  only 
when  the  amounts  are  small.  In  London,  even  shop-keepers  of  any 
amount  of  capital,  or  extent  of  business,  have  generally  an  account 
with  a  banker;  which,  besides  the  safety  and  convenience  of  the 
practice,  is  to  their  advantage  in  another  respect,  by  giving  them 
an  understood  claim  to  have  their  bills  discounted  in  cases  where 
they  could  not  otherwise  expect  it.  As  for  the  merchants  and 
larger  dealers,  they  habitually  make  all  payments  in  the  course  of 
their  business,  by  checks.  They  do  not,  however,  all  deal  with  the 
same  banker;  and  when  A  gives  a  check  to  B,  B  usually  pays  it,  not 
into  the  same,  but  into  another  bank.  But  the  convenience  of  busi- 
ness has  given  birth  to  an  arrangement  which  makes  all  the  bank- 
ing-houses of  the  City  of  London,  for  certain  purposes,  virtually  one 
establishment.  A  banker  does  not  send  the  checks  which  are  paid 
into  his  banking-house  to  the  banks  on  which  they  are  drawn  and 
demand  money  for  them.  There  is  a  building  called  the  Clearing 
House,  to  which  every  city  banker  sends  each  afternoon,  all  the 
checks  on  other  bankers  which  he  has  received  during  the  day;  and 
they  are  there  exchanged  for  the  checks  on  him  which  have  come 
into  the  hands  of  other  bankers,  the  balances  only  being  paid  iu 
money.  By  this  contrivance,  all  the  business  transactions  of  the 
City  of  London  during  that  day  amounting  often  to  millions  of 
pounds  and  a  vast  amount  besides  of  country  transactions,  repre- 
sented by  bills  which  country  bankers  have  drawn  upon  their  Lon- 
don correspondents,  all  liquidated  by  payments  not  exceeding,  on 
the  average,  £20(X000."— (Vol.  ii.,  p.  47). 

"Money,"  says  Mr.  Beck,  "follows  in  the  track  of  claim.  Its 
progress  is  the  discharge  and  satisfaction  of  claim.  The  payment 
of  money  is  effectually  the  discharge  of  the  debtor;  but  it  is  not 
equally  effectual  in  satisfaction  of  the  creditor.  Though  it  releases 
the  debtor,  it  still  leaves  the  creditor  to  seek  the  real  object  of  his 
desire.  It  does  not  put  him  in  possession  of  it,  but  of  something 
which  enables  him  to  obtain  it.  He  must  exchange  this  money  by 
purchase  for  the  article  he  wants  before  that  object  is  attained.  In 
payment  of  debts,  it  passes  from  claimant  to  claimant,  discharging 
and  paying  claims  as  it  goes.  Money  follows  claim;  both  contin- 
ually revolving  through  all  classics  of  society  in  repeated  and  per- 
petual circles,  constantly  returning  to  their  several  stations,  drawn 
thither  by  operations  of  industry  or  of  business. 

"In  the  possession  of  money  every  one  has  his  turn.  It  comes 
to  him  in  the  shape  of  payment  for  his  sales  or  his  industry  and 


30  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

passes  from  him  in  the  shape  of  payment  or  expenditure,  again  to 
return  at  its  proper  time  and  on  a  proper  occasion  to  serve  the  same 
purposes  as  before. 

"Now,  I  contend  that  as  the  progress  of  money  lies  in  a  circular 
route,  a  certain  system  of  account  may  be  made  to  supply  its  place, 
where  its  track  and  extent  can,  in  that  circle,  be  included  and  dis- 
tinguished. 

'"By  a  CIRCLE,  I  mean  that  range  of  society  which  includes  the 
whole  circulating  movement  of  money,  with  the  accompanying 
causes  and  effects  of  its  progress;  viz,  claims,  debts  and  payments; 
so  that,  if  we  wish  to  trace  its  path,  every  point  of  that  path  will  be 
contained  within  it.  Such  is  the  great  circle  of  society.  This  con- 
tains the  whole  body  of  debtors  and  the  whole  body  of  creditors.  It 
contains  all  the  debtors  to  the  creditors  and  all  the  creditors  to 
the  debtors.  All  would  be  included  in  the  jurisdiction  of  a  power 
that  by  any  possibility  could  preside  over  the  whole.  Creditors  are 
sellers;  debtors  are  buyers.  But  no  man  continually  sells  without 
sometimes  buying,  nor  does  any  man  continually  buy  without  some- 
times selling.  The  creditor  who  receives  money  from  his  debtor, 
again  expends  this  money  upon  others,  who  thereby,  in  their  turns, 
become  creditors  and  receive  their  money  back  again.  All  these 
movements  are  within  the  range  of  the  one  circle  of  society.  Now, 
it  is  evident  that  If  an  account  were  kept  by  a  presiding  power,  the 
goods  which  any  person  receives,  being  of  equal  value,  would  pay 
for  those  which  he  had  previously  delivered;  would  replace  him  in 
his  original  assests  ana  cancel  the  obligation  to  him  without  the 
aid  of  money.  Hence,  after  the  whole  process,  it  would  seem  that 
the  intermediate  passage  and  return  of  money  were  superfluous. 
If  the  dealings  are  not  directly  backward  and  forward— that  is, 
between  one  creditor  and  his  debtor  and  back  again  from  the  same 
debtor  to  the  same  creditor— the  effect  will  be  the  same;  for  as  this 
whole  circle  includes  every  creditor,  every  debtor  and  in  fact  every 
individual  in  that  society,  so  it  contains  every  account  to  which  the 
claims  of  any  creditor  would  apply,  and  every  account  to  which  the 
same  creditor  would  be  indebted.  The  agency  of  the  presiding 
power  would  render  it  pro  forma,  the  representative  to  every  cred- 
itor of  his  individual  debtor;  and  to  every  debtor,  the  representa- 
tive of  his  individual  creditor.  It  would  form  a  common  center  for 
all  claims  by  every  creditor  on  his  debtor.  It  would  form  the  chan- 
nel for  the  discharge  of  his  debts  and  tli<!  recei|)t  of  his  claims.  It 
would  show  the  state  of  his  account  with  society,  and  the  balance, 
if  in  favor,  would  Ije  available  as  so  much  cash. 

"This  is  what  is  meant  by  a  cikci.k.  Such  is  the  great  circle  of 
society,  the  only  one  which  is  complete  and  perfect,  and  such  are 
the-  advantages  contained  in  it. 

"Hence  the  plan  I  propose  is  adapted  to  this  circle,  to  exhibit 
the  revolving  track  of  money  within  it;  to  contain  the  several 
points  of  its  progress;  and.  at  each  of  these  points,   to  pi-rform  its 


MUTUAL   BANKING.  31 

duty  and  supply  its  place  by  the  revolution  of  debits  and  credits  in 
account,  instead  of  the  revolutions  of  the  actual  material  money." 
There  are  many  practical  processes  by  which  the  business- 
world  make  credit  perform  the  functions  of  money,  among  which 
may  be  especially  noticed— first,  that  by  credit  in  account;  and  sec- 
ond, that  by  bills  of  exchange.  Mr,  Beck  thought  out  a  Mutual 
Bank  by  generalizing  credit  in  account:  Proudhon,  by  generalizing 
the  bill  of  exchange. 

BILLS   OF   EXCHANGE. 

Let  it  be  supposed  that  there  are  ten  shoe-manufacturers  in  Lynn, 
who  sell  their  shoes  to  ten  shopkeepers  in  Boston;  let  it  be  supposed, 
also,  that  there  are  ten  wholesale  grocers  in  Boston  who  furnish 
goods  to  ten  retail  grocers  in  Lynn.  If  the  value  of  the  shoes  equals 
the  value  of  the  groceries,  the  ten  retail  grocers  in  Lynn  would 
have  no  occasion  to  send  money  to  Boston  to  pay  their  indebted- 
ness to  the  wholesale  grocers;  neither  would  the  ten  shopkeepers 
in  Boston  have  occasion  to  send  money  to  Lynn  to  discharge  their 
debt  to  the  ten  shoe  manufacturers;  for  the  Lynn  retail  grocers 
might  pay  the  money  to  the  the  Lynn  shoe-maufacturers;  these 
shoe-manufacturers  writing  to  the  Boston  shopkeepers,  who  are 
their  debtors,  requesting  them  to  pay  the  Boston  wholesale  grocers, 
who  are  the  creditors  of  the  Lynn  retail  grocers.  It  is  very  possi- 
ble that  the  transactions  of  all  these  persons  with  each  other  might 
be  settled  in  this  way  without  the  transmission  of  any  money  either 
from  Boston  to  Lynn,  or  from  Lynn  to  Boston.  The  transfer  of 
debts  in  the  process  here  indicated  gives  rise  to  what  are  called,  in 
mercantile  language,  drafts,  or  bills  of  exchange;  though  regular 
bills  of  exchange  are  seldom  drawn  in  this  country,  except  against 
foreign  account.  A  bill  of  exchange  reads  generally  somewhat  as 
follows: 

"To  Mr.  E.  F. days  after  sight,  on  this  my  first  bill  of  ex- 
change (second  and  third  of  the  same  date  and  tenor  not  paid)  pay  to 

A.  B.,  without  further  advice  from  me, dollars,  value  received. 

and  charge  the  same  to  account  of  your  obedient  servant,  C.  D." 

This  form  evidently  implies  that  the  bill  is  made  out  in  tripli- 
cates. The  bill  must  also,  of  course  be  dated.  A  draft  is  a  bill  of 
exchange  drawn  up  with  the  omission  of  some  of  the  solemnity  and 
particularity  of  the  regular  bill. 

Bills  of  exchange  are  useful,  not  only  for  the  payment  of  debts 
at  distant  places  without  transportation  of  the  precious  metals, 
but  also  as  a  means  by  which  a  debt  due  from  one  person  may  be 
made  available  for  outainixo  credit  from  iniother.  It  is  usual  in 
every  trade  to  give  a  certain  length  of  crctiit  for  goods  bought— 
ninety  days,  six  months,  eight  months,  or  a  longer  time,  as  may  be 
determined  by  the  convenience  of  the  parties,  or  by  the  cii>toin  of 
the  paitieular  trade  and  place.  If  a  num  has  sold  gooils  to  another 
on  six  month's  credit,  he  may  draw  a  bill  upon  his  debtor,  payable 
in  six  months,  get  his  bill  discounted  at  the   bank  and  thus  qualify 


32  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

himself  to  purchase  such  things  as  he  may  require  in  his  .usiness, 
without  .vaiting  for  the  six  months  to  expire.  But  bills  of  exchange 
do  more  than  this.  They  not  only  obviate,  upon  occasions,  the 
necessity  for  ready  money;  they  not  only  enable  a  man  to  com- 
mand ready  money  before  the  debts  due  to  him  arrive  at  maturity; 
they  often  actually  take  place  and  perform  the  functions  of  mcjney 
itself.  J.  Stuart  Mill,  quoting  from  Mr,  Thornton,  says:  "Let  us 
imagine  a  farmer  in  the  country  to  discharge  a  debt  of  £10  to  his 
neighboring  grocer,  by  giving  him  a  bill  for  that  sum,  drawn  on  his 
corn-factor  in  London,  for  grain  sold  in  the  metropolis;  and  the 
grocer  to  transmit  the  bill— ho  having  previously  indorsed  it— to  a 
neighboring  sugar-baker  in  discharge  of  a  like  debt;  and  the  sugar- 
baker  to  send  it  when  again  indorsed,  to  a  West  India  merchant  in 
an  outport;  and  the  West  India  merchant  to  deliver  it  to  his  coun- 
try banker,  who  also  indorses  it  and  sends  it  into  further  circula- 
lalion.  The  bill  will  in  this  case  have  effected  live  payments,  ex- 
actly as  if  it  were  a  £10  note  payable  to  bearer  on  demand.  A  mul- 
titude of  bills  pass  between  trader  and  trader  in  the  country  in  the 
manner  which  has  been  described,  and  they  evidently  form  in  the 
strictest  sense,  a  part  of  the  circulating  medium  of  the  kingdom." 
Mr.  Mill  adds:  "Many  bills,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  are  at 
last  |)resented  for  payment  quite  covered  with  indorsements,  each 
of  which  represents  either  a  fresh  discounting,  or  a  pecuniary 
transaction  in  which  the  bill  has  performed  the  functions  of  money. 
Up  to  twenty  years  ago,  the  circulating  medium  of  Lancashire  for 
sums  above  £5  was  ahnost  entirely  composed  of  such  bills." 

In  our  exiilanation  of  the  system  of  banking  which  results  from 
a  generalization  of  the  bill  of  exchange,  we  will  let  the  master 
speak  for  himself: 

proudhon's  i?.\nk. 

"We  must  destroy  the  royalty  of  trold:  we  must  republicanize 
specie,  by  making  every  product  of  labor  ready  money. 

"Let  no  one  be  frightened  beforehand.  I  by  no  means  propose 
to  reproduce  under  a  rrjuvenatcd  form,  the  old  ideas  of  paper 
money,  money  of  paper,  assignats,  bank-bills,  etc.,  etc.;  for  all  these 
palliatives  have  been  known,  tried  and  rejected  long  ago.  These 
representations  on  pafx-r,  by  which  men  liave  believed  themselves 
able  to  replac(!  the  absent  god,  are,  all  of  them,  nothing  other  than 
a  homage  paid  to  metal — an  adoration  of  metal,  which  has  been 
always  present  to  men's  minds,  and  which  has  always  been  taken 
by  them  as  the  measure  or  evaluator  of  products. 

"Everybody  knows  what  a  bill  of  exchange  is.  The  cieditor 
r«:-.'iuests  the  debtor  to  pay  to  him,  or  t(»  his  order,  at  such  a  place, 
at  such  a  date,  such  a  sum  of  money. 

"The  promissory  note  is  the  bill  of  exchange  inverted;  the 
debtor  |)romises  the  creditor  that  he  will  pay,  etc. 

" 'The  bill  of  exciiange,' says  the  statute,  'is  drawn  from  on<; 
place  on  another.     It  is  dated.    It    announces  the  sum  to  be  paid; 


MUTUAL   BANKING.  33 

the  time  and  place  where  the  payment  is  to  be  made;  the  value  to 
be  furnished  in  specie,  in  merchandise,  in  account,  or  in  other  form. 
It  is  to  the  order  of  a  third  person,  or  to  the  order  of  the  drawer 
himself.    If  it  is  by  1st,  2nd,  3rd,  4th,  etc.,  it  must  be  so  stated.' 

"The  bill  of  exchange  supposes,  therefore,  exchange,  provision 
and  acceptance;  that  is  to  say,  a  value  created  and  delivered  by 
the  drawer;  the  existence,  in  the  hands  of  the  drawee,  of  the  funds 
destined  to  acquit  the  bill,  and  the  promise  on  the  part  of  the 
drawee,  to  acquit  it.  When  the  bill  of  exchange  is  clothed  with  all 
these  formalities;  when  it  represents  a  real  service  actually  ren- 
dered, or  merchandise  delivered;  when  the  drawer  and  drawee  are 
known  and  solvent;  when,  in  a  word,  it  is  clothed  with  all  the 
conditions  necessary  to  guarantee  the  accomplishment  of  the  obli- 
gation, the  bill  of  exchange  is  considered  good;  it  circulates  in  the 
mercantile  world  like  bank-paper,  like  specie.  No  one  objects  to 
receiving  it  under  pretext  that  a  bill  of  exchange  is  nothing  but 
a  piece  of  paper.  Only — since,  at  the  end  of  its  circulation,  the  bill 
of  exchange,  before  being  destroyed,  must  be  exchanged  for  specie- 
it  pays  to  specie  a  sort  of  seigniorial  duty,  called  discount. 

"That  which,  in  general,  renders  the  bill  of  exchange  insecure, 
is  precisely  this  promise  of  final  conversion  into  specie;  and  thus 
the  idea  of  metal,  like  a  corrupting  royalty,  infects  even  the  bill  of 
exchange  and  takes  from  it  its  certainty. 

"Now,  the  whole  problem  of  the  circulation  consists  in  general- 
izing the  bill  of  exchange;  that  is  to  say,  in  making  of  it  an  anony- 
mous title,  exchangeable  forever,  and  redeemable  at  sight,  but  only 
in  merchandise  and  services. 

"Or,  to  speak  a  language  more  comprehensible  to  financial 
adepts,  the  problem  of  the  circulation  consists  in  basing  bank- 
paper,  not  upon  specie,  nor  bullion,  nor  immovable  property,  which 
can  never  produce  anything  but  a  miserable  oscillation  between 
usury  and  bankruptcy,  between  the  five-franc  piece  and  the  as- 
signat;  but  by  basing  it  upon  phoducts. 

"I  conceive  this  generalization  of  the  bill  of  exchange  as  fol- 
lows: 

"A  hundred  thousand  manufacturers,  miners,  merchants,  com- 
missioners, public  carriers,  agriculturists,  etc.,  throughout  BYance, 
unite  with  each  other  in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  the  the  gov- 
ernment and  by  simple  authentic  declaration,  inserted  in  the  'Mon- 
iteur'  newspaper,  bind  themselves  respectively  and  reciprocally  to 
adhere  to  the  statutes  of  the  Bank  of  Exchange;  which  shall  bi> 
no  other  than  the  Bank  of  France  itself,  with  its  constitution  and 
attributes  modified  on  the  following  basis: 

"1st.  The  Bank  of  France,  become  the  Bank  of  Exchange,  is 
an  institution  of  public  interest.  It  is  placed  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  state  and  is  directed  by  delegates  from  all  the  branches 
of  industry. 

"2nd.    Every   subscriber  shall   have   an   account  open   at   the 


34  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

Bank  of  Exchange  for  the  discount  of  his  business  paper;  and 
he  shall  be  served  to  the  same  extent  as  he  would  have  been  under 
the  conditions  of  discount  in  specie;  that  is,  in  the  known  measure 
of  his  faculties,  the  business  he  does,  the  positive  guarantees  he 
offers,  the  real  credit  he  might  reasonably  have  enjoyed  under  the 
old  system. 

"3rd.  The  discount  of  ordinary  commercial  paper,  whether  of 
drafts,  orders,  bills  of  exchange,  notes  on  demand,  will  be  made  in 
bills  of  the  Bank  of  Exchange,  of  denominations  of  3.5,  .50,  100  and 
1.000  francs. 

"Specie  will  be  used  in  making  change  only. 

"4th.  The  rate  of  discount  will  be  fixed  at  per  cent,  com- 
mission included,  no  matter  how  long  the  paper  has  to  run.  With 
the  Bank  of  Exchange  all  business  will  be  finished  on  the  spot. 

'•.5th.  Every  subscriber  binds  himself  to  receive  in  all  payments, 
from  whomsoever  it  inay  be  and  at  par,  the  paper  of  the  Bank  of 
Exchange. 

"6th.  Provisionally  and  by  way  of  transition,  gold  and  silver 
coin  will  be  received  in  exchange  for  the  paper  of  the  bank,  and  at 
their  nominal  value. 

"Is  this  a  paper  currency? 

"I  answer  unhesitatingly,  Nol  It  is  neither  paper-money,  nor 
money  of  paper;  it  is  neither  government  checks,  nor  even  bank- 
bills;  it  is  not  of  the  nature  of  anything  that  has  been  hitherto  in- 
vented to  make  up  for  the  scarcity  of  the  specie.  It  is  the  bill  of 
exchange  generalized. 

"The  essence  of  the  bill  of  exchange  is  constituted — first,  by  its 
being  drawn  from  one  place  on  another;  second,  by  its  representing 
a  real  value  equal  to  the  sum  it  expresses;  third,  by  the  promise  or 
obligation  on  the  part  of  the  drawee  to  pay  it  when  it  falls  due. 

"In  three  words,  that  which  constitutes  the  bill  of  exchange  is 
exchange,  provision,  acceptance. 

"As  to  the  date  of  issue,  or  of  falling  due;  as  to  the  designation 
of  the  places,  persons,  object — these  are  particular  circumstances 
which  do  not  relate  to  the  essence  of  the  title,  but  which  serve 
merely  to  give  it  a  determinate  personal  and  local  actuality. 

"Now,  what  is  the  bank-paper  I  jjropose  to  create? 

"It  is  the  bi'l  of  exchange  stripped  of  the  circumstantial  quali- 
ties of  date,  place,  person,  object,  term  of  maturity,  and  reduced  to 
its  essential  qualities— exchange,  acceptance,  provision. 

"It  is,  to  explain  myself  still  more  clearly,  tlic  bill  of  exchange, 
payable  at  sight  and  forever,  drawn  from  every  place  in  France 
upon  every  other  place  in  France,  made,  by  1(K),(XK)  drawers,  guaran- 
le(;(l  l»y  KMMKK)  indorsc-rs,  accepti'd  by  the  ](M),0(K)  siibscribers  drawn 
upon;  having  provision  made  for  its  payment  in  the  100.(K)0  work- 
shops, manufactories,  stores,  etc.,  of  the  same  100,000  subscribers. 

"I  say,  therefore,  that  such  a  tith^  unites  evc^ry  condition  of 
solidity  and  .security  and  that  it  is  susceptible  of  no  depreciation. 


MUTUAL   BANK  INC.  35 

"It  is  eminently  solid:  since  on  one  side  it  represents  the  ordi- 
nary, local,  personal,  actual  paper  of  exchange,  determined  in  its 
object  and  representing  a  real  value,  a  service  renderedj  merchan- 
dise delivered,  or  whose  delivery  is  guaranteed  and  certain;  while 
on  the  other  side  it  is  guaranteed  by  the  contract,  in  so/ido,  of  100,- 
000  exchangers,  who,  by  their  mass,  their  independence,  and  at  the 
same  time  by  the  unity  and  connection  of  their  operations,  offer 
millions  of  millions  of  probability  of  payment  against  one  of  non- 
payment.    Gold  is  a  thousand  times  less  sure. 

"In  fact,  if  in  the  ordinary  conditions  of  commerce,  we  may  say 
that  a  bill  of  exchange  made  by  a  known  merchant  offers  two 
chances  of  payment  against  one  of  non-payment,  the  same  bill  of 
exchange,  if  it  is  indorsed  by  another  known  merchant,  will  offer 
four  chances  of  payment  against  one.  If  it  is  indorsed  by  three, 
four  or  a  greater  number  of  merchants  equally  well  known,  there 
will  be  eight,  sixteen,  thirty-two,  etc.,  to  wager  against  one  that 
three,  four,  five,  etc.,  known  merchants  will  not  fail  at  the  same 
time,  since  the  favorable  chances  increase  in  geometrical  propor- 
tion with  the  number  of  indorsers.  What,  then,  ought  to  be  the 
certainty  of  a  bill  of  exchange  made  by  lOO.OOa  well-known  sub- 
scribers, who  are  all  of  them  interested  to  promote  its  circulation? 

"I  add  that  this  title  is  susceptible  of  no  depreciation.  The 
reason  for  this  is  found,  first,  in  the  perfect  solidity  of  a  mass  of 
100,000  signers.  But  there  exists  another  reason,  more  direct,  and  if 
possible,  more  reassuring;  it  is  that  the  issues  of  the  new  paper  can 
never  be  exaggerated  like  those  of  ordinary  bank-bills,  treasury 
notes,  paper  money,  assignats,  etc.,  for  the  issues  take  place  against 
good,  commercial  paper  only,  and  in  the  regular,  necessarily  lim- 
ited, measured  and  proportionate  process  of  discounting. 

"In  the  combination  I  propose,  the  paper  (at  once  sign  of  credit 
and  instrument  of  circulation)  grows  out  of  the  best  business- 
paper,  which  itself  represents  products  delivered,  and  by  no  means 
merchandise  unsold.  This  paper,  I  affirm,  can  never  be  refused  in 
payment,  since  it  is  subscribed  beforehand  by  the  mass  of  pro- 
ducers. 

"This  paper  offers  so  much  the  more  security  and  convenience, 
inasmuch  as  it  may  be  tried  on  a  small  scale,  and  with  as  few  per- 
sons as  you  see  fit,  and  that  without  the  least  violence,  without  the 
least  peril. 

"Suppose  the  IJank  of  Exchange  to  start  at  first  on  a  basis  of 
1,000  subscribers  instead  of  100,000;  the  amount  of  paper  it  would 
issue  would  be  in  proportion  to  the  business  of  these  1.000  subscrib- 
ers, and  negotiable  only  among  themselves.  Afterwards,  according 
as  other  persons  should  adhere  to  the  bank,  the  proportion  of  bills 
would  be  as  5.000,  10,(XX),  50,000,  etc.,  and  their  circulation  would 
grow  with  the  number  of  subscribers,  as  a  money  peculiar  to  them. 
Then,  when  the  whole  of  France  should  have  adhered  to  the  stat- 


36  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

utes  of  the  new  bank,  the  issue  of  paper  would  be  equal,  at  every 
instant,  to  the  the  totality  of  circulating  values. 

"I  do  not  conceive  it  necessary  to  insist  longer.  Men  acquainted 
with  banking  will  understand  me  without  difficulty,  and  will  sup- 
ply from  their  own  minds  the  details  of  execution. 

"As  for  the  vulgar,  who  judge  of  all  things  by  the  material  aspect, 
nothing  for  them  is  so  similar  to  an  assignat  as  a  bill  of  the  Bank  of 
Exchange.  For  the  economist,  who  searches  the  idea  to  the  bot- 
tom, nothing  is  so  different.  They  are  two  titles,  which,  under  the 
same  matter,  the  same  form,  the  same  denomination,  are  diamet- 
rically opposed  to  each  other." — [Organization  du  Credit  de  la 
Circulation — Banque  d'Exchange;  p.  23). 

REMARKS. 

We  have  several  objections  to  Proudhon's  bank.  We  propose 
them  with  diffidence,  as  Proudhon  has  undoubtedly  prepared  an 
adequate  answer  to  them.  Nevertheless,  as  he  has  not  given  that 
answer  in  his  writings,  we  have  a  right  to  state  them.  They  are  as 
follows: 

1st.  We  ask  M.  Proudhon  how  he  would  punish  arbitrary  con- 
duct, partiality,  favoritism  and  self-sufficiency,  on  the  part  of  the 
officers  of  his  bank.  When  we  go  to  the  mutual  bank  to  borrow 
money,  we  desire  to  be  treated  politely  and  to  receive  fair  play. 

2nd.  We  ask  him  how  he  would  prevent  intriguing  members 
from  caballing  to  obtain  control  of  the  direction;  or  how  he  would 
prevent  such  intrigues  from  bringing  forth  evil  results. 

3rd.  We  ask  him  how  he  would  prevent  the  same  property, 
through  the  operation  of  successive  sales,  from  being  represented, 
at  the  same  time,  by  several  different  bills  of  exchange,  all  of 
which  are  liable  to  be  presented  for  discount.  For  example:  Sup- 
pose Peter  sells  John  $100  worth  of  pork  at  six  months  credit  and 
takes  a  bill  at  six  months  for  it;  and  that  John  sells  afterward  this 
same  pork  to  James  at  a  like  credit,  taking  a  like  bill;  whatshall 
prevent  both  Peter  and  John  from  presenting  their  bills  for  dis- 
count? Both  bills  are  real  bills,  resulting  from  sales  actually 
effected.  NcMthor  of  them  can  be  characterized  as  fictitious  paper, 
and  meanwhile,  only  one  represents  actual  property.  The  same 
barrel  of  pork,  by  being  sold  and  resold  at  credit  one  hundred  times 
will  give  rise  to  one  hundred  real  bills.  lUit  is  it  not  absurd  to 
say  that  the  bank  is  safe  in  discounting  all  this  paper,  for  the  rea- 
son that  it  is  entinily  composed  of  real  bills,  when  wv.  know  only 
one  of  them  represents  the  barrel  of  pork?  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  not  every  real  bill  is  adequately  guaranteed.  How,  then,  can 
Proudhon  be  certain  that  his  issues  of  l)ank-paper  "will  never  be 
exaggerated?" 

4th.  We  ask  him  how  he  would  caus<^  his  bank  to  operate  to 
the  decentralization  of  the  money  power. 

For  ourselves,  we  submit  (and  for  the  reason  that  it  is  necessary 
to  have  some  systfm  that  obviates   the  foregoing  objections)  that 


MUTUAL   BA:NK1IsG.  37 

the  issues  of  mutual  money  ought— at  least,  here  in  New  England, 
the  theory  of  Froudhon  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding— to  be  re- 
lated to  a  basis  of  determinate  actual  property. 

Our  plan  for  a  Mutual  Bank  is  as  follows: 

1st.  Any  person,  by  pledging  actual  property  to  tlie  bank,  may 
become  a  member  of  the  INIutual  Banking  Company. 

2nd.  Any  member  may  borrow  the  paper  money  of  the  bank  on 
his  own  note  running  to  maturity  (without  indorsement)  to  an 
amount  not  to  exceed  one-half  of  the  value  of  the  property  by  him- 
self pledged. 

3rd.  Each  member  binds  himself  in  legal  form,  on  admission, 
to  receive  in  all  payments,  from  whomsoever  it  may  be  and  at  par, 
the  paper  of  the  Mutual  Bank. 

4th.  The  rate  of  interest  at  which  said  money  shall  be  loaned 
shall  be  determined  by,  and  shall  if  possible,  just  meet  and  cover, 
the  bare  expenses  of  the  institution.  As  for  interest  in  the  com- 
mon acceptation  of  the  word,  its  rate  shall  be  at  the  Mutual  Bank 
precisely  0. 

5tii.  No  money  shall  be  loaned  to  any  persons  who  are  not 
members  of  the  company;  that  is,  no  money  shall  be  loaned,  ex- 
cept on  a  pledge  of  actual  property. 

6th.  Any  member,  by  paying  his  debts  to  the  bank,  may  have 
his  property  released  from  pledge,  and  be  himself  released  from  all 
obligations  to  the  bank,  or  to  the  holders  of  the  bank's  money,  as 
such. 

7th.  As  for  the  bank,  it  shall  never  redeem  any  of  its  notes  in 
specie;  nor  shall  it  ever  receive  specie  in  payments,  or  the  bills  of 
specie-paying  banks,  except  at  a  discount  of  one-half  of  one  per 
cent. 

Ships  and  houses  that  are  insured,  machinery,  in  short,  anything 
that  may  be  sold  under  the  hammer,  may  be  made  a  basis  for  the 
issue  of  mutual  money.  Mutual  Banking  opens  the  way  to  no 
monopoly;  for  it  simply  elevates  every  species  of  property  to  the 
rank  which  has  hitherto  been  exclusively  occupied  by  gold  and  sil- 
ver. It  may  be  well  (we  think  it  will  be  necessary)  to  begin  with 
real  estate;  we  do  not  say  it  would  be  well  to  end  there! 


CHAPTER  V. 

PETITION   FOR  A  GENERAL   MUTUAL  BANKING  LAW. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

This  prayer  of  your  petitioners  humbly  showeth,  that  the 
farmers,  mechanics  and  other  actual  producers,  whose  names  are 
hereunto  subscribed,  believe  the  present  organization  of  the  cur- 
rency to  be  unjust  and  oppressive.  They,  therefore,  respectfully 
request  your  honorable  body  to  republicanize  gold,  silver  and  bank- 
bills,  by  the  enactment  of  a  General  Mutual  Banking  Laav. 

A  law,  embracing  the  following  provisions,  would  be  eminently 
satisfactory  to  your  petitioners: 

1.  The  inhabitants  or  any  portion  of  the  inhabitants,  of  any 
town  or  city  in  the  Commonwealth  may  organize  themselves  into  a 
Mutual  Banking  Company. 

2.  Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  the  Mutual  Banking 
Company  of  any  particular  town,  by  pledging  real  estate  situ- 
ated in  that  town,  or  in  its  immediate  neighborhood,  to  the  Mutual 
Bank  of  that  town. 

3.  The  Mutual  Bank  of  any  town  may  issue  paper-money  to 
circulate  as  currency  among  persons  willing  to  employ  it  as  such. 

4.  Every  member  of  a  Mutual  Banking  Company  shall  bind 
himself,  and  be  bound,  in  due  legal  form,  on  admission,  to  receive 
in  payment  of  debts,  at  par,  and  from  all  persons,  the  bills  issued, 
and  to  be  issued,  by  the  particular  Mutual  Bank  to  which  he  may 
belong;  but  no  member  shall  be  obliged  to  receive,  or  have  in  pos- 
session, bills  of  said  Mutual  Bank  to  an  amount  exceeding  the 
wliole  value  of  the  proi)erty  pledged  by  him. 

f>.  Any  member  may  borrow  the  paper  money  of  the  bank  to 
which  he  belongs,  on  his  own  note  running  to  maturity  (without 
indorsement),  to  an  amount  not  to  exceed  one-half  of  the  value  of 
the  property  pledged  by  him. 

G.  The  rate  of  interest  at  which  said  money  shall  be  loaned  by 
the  bank,  shall  be  determiuf^d  by,  and  shall,  if  possible,  just  meet 
and  cover  the  bare  expenses  of  the  institution. 

7.  No  money  shall  be  loaned  by  the  bank  to  persons  who  do 
not  become  members  of  the  company  by  pledging  real  estate  to  the 
bank. 

8.  Any  member,  by  paying  his  debts  to  the  Mutual  Bank  to 
which  he  belongs,  may  have  his  property  released  from  pledge,  and 
bf!  liimself  released  from  all  obligations  to  said  Mutual  IJank,  and 
to  h(jl(l(;rs  of  tli(!  Mutual-Bank  money,  as  such. 


PETITION  FOR  A  MUTUAL  BANKING  LAW.     39 

9.  No  Mutual  Bank  shall  receive  other  than  Mutual-Bank 
paper-money  in  payment  of  debts  due  to  it,  except  at  a  discount  of 
one-half  of  one  per  cent. 

10.  The  Mutual  Banks  of  the  several  counties  in  the  Common- 
wealth shall  be  authorized  to  enter  into  such  arrangements  with 
each  other  as  shall  enable  them  to  receive  each  other's  bills  in  pay- 
ments of  debts;  so  that,  for  example,  a  Fitchburg  man  may  pay  his 
debts  to  the  Barre  Bank  in  Oxford  money,  or  in  such  other  Worces- 
ter-county money  as  may  suit  his  convenience. 

REMARKS. 

Let  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  take  a  mortgage  upon  real  estate  owned 
by  F,  to  cover  a  value  of,  say,?600;  in  consideration  of  which 
mortgage,  let  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E,  who  are  timber-dealers,  hardware 
merchants,  carpenters,  masons,  painters,  etc.,  furnish  planks, 
boards,  shingles,  nails,  hinges,  locks,  carpenters'  and  masons'  labor, 
etc.,  to  the  value  of  $(500,  to  F,  who  is  building  a  house.  Let  the 
mortgage  have  six  months  to  run.  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  are  perfectly  safe; 
for  either  F  pays  at  the  end  of  the  six  months,  and  then  the  whole 
transaction  is  closed;  or  F  does  not  pay,  and  then  they  sell  the  real 
estate  mortgaged  by  him,  which  is  worth  much  more  than  ?600,  and 
pay  themselves,  thus  closing  the  transaction.  This  transaction, 
generalized,  gives  the  Mutual  Bank,  and  furnishes  a  currency 
based  upon  products  and  services,  entirely  independent  of  hard 
money,  or  paper  based  on  hard  money.  B^or  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  may 
give  to  F,  instead  of  boards,  nails,  shingles,  etc.,  600  certificates  of 
his  mortgage,  said  certificates  being  receivable  by  them  for  services 
and  products,  each  one  in  lieu  of  a  silver  dollar;  each  certificate 
being,  therefore,  in  all  purchases  from  them,  equivalent  to  a  one- 
dollar  bill.  If  A,  B,  C,  D  and  E  agree  to  receive  these  certificates, 
each  one  in  lieu  of  a  silver  dollar,  for  the  redemption  of  the  mort- 
gage; if,  moreover,  they  agree  to  receive  them,  ca.ch  one  in  lieu  of  a 
silver  dollar,  from  whomsoever  it  may  be,  in  all  payments— then  A, 
B,  C,  D  and  E  are  a  banking  company  that  issues  mutual  money; 
and  as  they  never  issue  money  except  upon  a  mortgage  of  property  of 
double  the  value  of  the  money  issued,  their  transactions  are  always 
absolutely  safe,  and  their  money  is  always  absolutely  good. 

Any  community  that  embraces  members  of  all  trades  and  pro- 
fessions may  totally  abolish  the  use  of  hard  money,  and  of  paper 
based  on  hard  money,  substituting  mutual  money  in  its  stead;  and 
they  may  always  substitute  mutual  money  in  the  stead  of  hard 
money  and  bank  bills,  to  the  precise  extent  of  their  ability  to  live 
within  themselves  on  their  own  resources. 

THE  RATE  OF  INTEREST. 

As  interest-money  charged  by  Mutual  Banks  covers  nothing 
but  the  expenses  of  the  institutions,  such  banks  may  lend  money,  at 

A  R.VTE  OF  I.KSS  THAN  ONE  PER  CENT  PER  ANNU.M,  to    persons   offer- 

ng  good  security. 


40  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  MUTUAL  BANKING. 

It  may  be  asked  "What  advantage  does  mutual  banking  hold 
out  to  individuals  who  have  no  real  estate  to  offer  in  pledge?"  We 
answer  this  question  by  another:  What  advantage  do  the  existing 
banks  hold  out  to  individuals  who  desire  to  borrow,  but  are  unable 
to  offer  adequate  security?  If  we  knew  of  a  plan  whereby,  through 
an  act  of  the  legislature,  every  member  of  the  community  might  be 
made  rich,  we  would  destroy  this  petition,  and  draw  up  another 
embodying  that  plan.  Meanwhile,  we  affirm  that  no  system  was 
ever  devised  so  beneficial  to  the  poor  as  the  system  of  mutual  bank- 
ing; for  if  a  man  having  nothing  to  offer  in  pledge,  has  a  friend  who 
is  a  farmer,  or  other  holder  of  real  estate,  and  that  friend  is  willing 
to  furnish  security  for  him,  he  can  borrow  money  at  the  mutual 
bank  at  a  rate  of  1  per  cent  interest  a  year;  whereas,  if  he  should 
borrow  at  the  existing  banks,  he  would  be  obliged  to  pay  6  per  cent. 
Again,  as  mutual  banking  will  make  money  exceedingly  plenty,  it 
will  cause  a  rise  in  the  rate  of  wages,  thus  benefiting  the  man  who 
has  no  property  but  his  bodily  strength;  and  it  will  not  cause  a 
proportionate  increase  in  the  price  of  the  necessaries  of  life:  for  the 
price  of  provisions,  etc.,  depends  on  supply  and  demand;  and 
mutual  banking  operates,  not  directly  on  supply  and  demand,  but 
to  the  diminution  of  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  medium  of  exchange. 
Mutual  banking  will  indeed  cause  a  certain  rise  in  the  price  of  com- 
modities by  creating  a  new  demand;  for,  with  mutual  money,  the 
poorer  classes  will  be  able  to  purchase  articles  which,  under  the 
present  currency,  they  never  dream  of  buying. 

But  certain  mechanics  and  farmers  say,  "We  borrow  no  money, 
and  therefore  pay  no  interest.  How,  then,  does  this  thing  concern 
us?"  Hearken,  my  friends  I  let  us  reason  together.  I  have  an  im- 
pression on  my  mind  that  it  is  precisely  the  class  who  have  no  deal- 
ings with  the  banks,  and  derive  no  advantages  from  them,  that 
ultimately  pay  all  the  interest  money  that  is  paid.  When  a  manu- 
facturer borrows  money  to  carry  on  his  business,  he  counts  the  in- 
terest he  pays  as  a  partof  his  expenses,  and  therefore  adds  the  amount 
of  interest  to  the  price  of  his  goods.  The  consumer  who  buys  the 
goods  pays  the  interest  when  he  pays  for  the  goods;  and  who  is  the 
consumer,  if  not  the  mechanic  and  the  farmer?  If  a  manufacturer 
could  borrow  money  at  1  percent,  he  could  afford  to  undersell  all  his 
competitors,  to  the  manifest  advantageof  the  farmer  and  mechanic. 
The  manufacturer  would  neither  gain  nor  lose;  the  farmer  and 
mechanic,  who  have  no  dealings  with  the  bank,  would  gain  the 
whole  difference;  and  the  bank— which,  were  it  not  for  the  compe- 
tition of  the  Mutual  Itank,  would  have  loaned  the  money  at  (j  per 
cent  interest— would  lose  the  whole  difference.  It  is  the  indirect 
relation  of  the  bank  to  the  farmer  and  mechanic,  and  not  its  direct 
relation  to  the  manufactunir  and  merchant,  that  enables  it  to  nuike 
money.  When  foreign  competition  prevents  tlie  manufacturer  from 
keeping  up  the  price  of  his  goods,  the  farmer  and  mechanic,  who 


PETITION  FOR  A  MUTUAL  BANKING  LAW.     41 

are  consumers,  do  not  pay  the  interest-money:  but  still  the  interest 
is  paid  by  the  class  that  derive  no  benefit  from  the  banks;  for,  in 
this  case,  the  manufacturer  will  save  himself  from  loss  by  cutting 
down  the  wages  of  his  workmen  who  are  producers.  Wages  fluc- 
tuate, rising  and  falling  (other  things  being  equal)  as  the  rate  of 
interest  fails  or  rises.  If  the  farmer,  mechanic  and  operative  are 
not  interested  in  the  matter  of  banking,  we  know  not  who  is. 

MUTUAL    MONEY    IS    GENERALLY    COMPETENT    TO    FORCE    ITS    OWN 
WAY  INTO  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 

Let  us  suppose  the  Mutual  Bank  to  be  at  first  established  in  a 
single  town,  and  its  circulation  to  be  confined  within  the  limits  of 
that  town.  The  trader  who  sells  the  produce  of  that  town  in  the 
city  and  buys  there  such  commodities— tea,  coffee,  sugar,  calico, 
etc.— as  are  required  for  the  consumption  of  his  neighbors,  sells  and 
buys  on  credit.  He  does  not  pay  the  farmer  cash  for  his  produce; 
he  does  not  sell  that  produce  for  cash  in  the  city;  neither  does  he 
buy  his  groceries,  etc.,  for  cash  from  the  city  merchant:  but  he 
buys  of  the  farmer  at,  say,  eight  months'  credit;  and  he  sells  to 
the  city  merchant  at,  say,  six  months'  credit.  He  finds,  more- 
over, as  a  general  thing,  that  the  exports  of  the  town  which  pass 
through  his  hands  very  nearly  balance  the  imports  that  he  brings 
into  the  town  for  sale;  so  that,  in  reality,  the  exports — butter, 
cheese,  pork,  beef,  eggs,  etc.— pay  for  the  imports— coffee,  sugar, 
etc.  And  how.  indeed,  could  it  be  otherwise?  It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  town  has  silver  mines  and  a  mint;  and,  if  the  people 
pay  for  their  imports  in  money,  it  will  be  because  they  have  be- 
come enabled  so  to  do  by  selling  their  produce  for  money.  It  fol- 
lows, therefore,  that  the  people  in  a  country  town  do  not  make  ihe 
money,  whereby  they  pay  for  store-goods,  off  each  other,  but  that 
they  make  it  by  selling  their  produce  out  of  the  town.  There  are, 
therefore,  two  kinds  of  trading  going  on  at  the  same  time  in  the 
town— one  trade  of  the  inhabitants  with  each  other;  and  another 
of  the  inhabitants,  through  the  store,  with  individuals  living  out  of 
town.  And  these  two  kinds  of  trade  are  perfectly  distinct  from 
each  other.  The  mutual  money  would  serve  all  the  purposes  of  the 
internal  trade;  leaving  the  hard  money,  and  paper  based  on  hard 
money,  to  serve  exclusively  for  the  purposes  of  trade  that  reaches 
out  of  the  town.  The  mutual  money  will  not  prevent  a  single  dol- 
lar of  hard  money,  or  paper  based  on  hard  money,  from  coming 
into  the  town;  for  such  hard  money  comes  into  the  town,  not  in 
consequence  of  exchanges  made  between  the  inhabitants  them- 
selves, but  in  consequence  of  produce  sold  abroad.*  So  long  as 
produce  is  sold  out  of  the  town,  so  long  will  the  inhabitants  be  able 
to  buy  commodities  that  are  produced  out  of  the  town;   and   they 


*Tbese  remarks  may  be  generalized,  and  applied  to  the  commerce 
which  is  carried  on  between  nations. 


42  MUTUAL  BANKING. 

will  be  able  to  make  purchases  to  the  precise  extent  that  they  are 
able  to  make  sales.  The  mutual  money  will  therefore  prove  to 
them  an  unmixed  benefit;  it  will  be  entirely  independent  of  the  old 
money,  and  will  open  to  them  a  new  trade  entirely  independent  of 
the  old  trade.  So  far  as  it  can  be  made  available,  it  will  unques- 
tionably prove  itself  to  be  a  good  thing;  and,  where  it  cannot  be 
made  available,  the  inhabitants  will  only  be  deprived  of  a  benefit 
that  they  could  not  have  enjoyed — mutual  money  or  no  mutual 
money.  Besides,  the  comparative  cost  of  the  mutual  money  is  al- 
most nothing;  for  it  can  be  issued  to  any  amount  on  good  security, 
at  the  mere  cost  of  printing,  and  the  expense  of  looking  after  the 
safety  of  the  mortgages.  If  the  mutual  money  should  happen,  at 
any  particular  time,  not  to  be  issued  to  any  great  extent,  it  would 
not  be  as  though  an  immense  mass  of  value  was  remaining  idle;  for 
interest  on  the  mutual  money  is  precisely  0.  The  mutual  money  is 
not  itself  actual  value,  but  a  mere  medium  for  the  exchange  of  act- 
ual values— a  mere  medium  for  the  facilitation  of  barter. 

We  have  remarked,  that  when  the  trader,  who  does  the  out-of- 
town  business  of  the  inhabitants,  buys  coffee,  sugar,  etc.,  he  does 
not  pay  cash  for  them,  but  buys  them  at,  say,  six  months'  credit. 
Now,  the  existing  system  of  credit  causes,  by  its  very  nature,  peri- 
odical crises  in  commercial  aflfairs.  When  one  of  these  crises  oc- 
curs, the  trader  will  say  to  the  city  merchant,  "1  owe  you  so  much 
for  groceries;  but  1  have  no  money,  for  times  are  hard:  I  will  give 
you,  however,  my  note  for  the  debt.  Now,  we  leave  it  to  the  reader, 
would  not  the  city  merchant  prefer  to  take  the  mutual  money  of 
the  town  to  which  the  trader  belongs,  money  that  holds  real  estate 
and  produce  in  that  town,  rather  than  the  private  note  of  a  trader 
who  may  fail  within  a  week? 

If,  under  the  existing  system,  all  transactions  were  settled  on 
the  spot  in  cash,  things  might  be  different;  but  as  almost  all  trans- 
actions are  conducted  on  the  credit  system,  and  as  the  credit  system 
necessarily  involves  periodical  commercial  crises,  the  mutual 
money  will  find  very  little  diihculty  in  ultimately  forcing  itself  into 
general  circulation.  The  Mutual  Bank  is  like  the  stone  cut  from 
the  mountain  without  hands,  for  let  it  be  once  established  in  a  sin- 
gle village,  no  mattc^r  how  obscure,  and  it  will  grow  till  it  covers 
the  whole  earth.  Nevertheless,  it  would  be  better  to  obviate  all 
difTiculty  by  starting  the  Mutual  Bank  on  a  sufficiently  extensive 
scale  at  the  very  beginning. 

TIIK  MKA8URE  OF  VALUE. 

The  bill  of  a  Mutual  Hank  is  not  a  standard  of  value,  since  it 
is  itself  measured  and  determined  in  value  by  the  silver  dollar.  If 
the  dollar  rises  in  value,  the  bill  of  the  Mutual  Bank  rises  also, 
since  it  is  receivable  in  lieu  of  a  silver  dollar.  The  bills  of  a  Mutual 
Bank  are  not  standards  of  value,  but  mere  instruments  of  exchange; 
and  as  the  value  of  mutual  money  is  determined,  not  by  the  demand 
and  supply  of  mutual  money,  but  by  the  demand  and  supply  of  the 


PETITION  FOR  A  MUTUAL  BANKIXG  LAW.     43 

precious  metals,  the  Mutual  Bank  may  issue  bills  to  any  extent,  and 
those  bills  will  not  be  liable  to  any  depreciation  from  excess  of  supply. 
And,  for  like  reasons,  mutual  money  will  not  be  liable  to  rise  in 
value  if  it  happens  at  any  time  to  be  scarce  in  the  market.  The 
issues  of  mutual  money  are  therefore  susceptible  of  any  contrac- 
tion or  expansion  which  may  be  necessary  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
community,  and  such  contraction  or  expansion  cannot  by  any  pos- 
sibility be  attended  with  any  evil  consequence  whatever:  for  the 
silver  dollar,  which  is  the  standard  of  value,  will  remain  through- 
out at  the  natural  valuation  determined  for  it  by  the  general  de- 
mand and  supply  of  gold  and  silver  throughout  the  whole  world. 

The  bills  of  Mutual  Banks  act  merely  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change: they  do  not  and  cannot  pretend  to  be  measures  or  stand- 
ards of  value.  The  medium  of  exchange  is  one  thing;  the 
measure  of  value  is  another;  and  the  standard  of  value  still  an- 
other. Tlie  dollar  is  the  measure  of  value.  Silver  and  gold,  at  a 
certain  degree  of  fineness,  are  the  standard  of  value.  The  bill  of  a 
Mutual  Bank  is  a  bill  of  exchange,  drawn  by  all  the  members  of  the 
mutual  banking  company  upon  themselves,  indorsed  and  accepted 
by  themselves,  payable  at  sight,  but  only  in  services  and  products. 
The  members  of  the  company  bind  themselves  to  receive  their  own 
money  at  par;  that  is,  in  lieu  of  as  many  silver  dollars  as  are  de- 
noted by  the  denomination  on  the  face  of  the  bill.  Services  and 
products  are  to  be  estimated  in  dollars,  and  exchanged  for  each 
other  without  the  intervention  of  specie.* 

Mutual  money,  which  neither  is  nor  can  be  merchandise,  es- 
capes the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  which  is  applicable  to  mer- 
chandise only. 

THE  REGULATOR  OF  VALUE. 

The  utility  of  an  article  is  one  thing;  its  exchangeable  value 
is  another;  and  the  cost  of  its  production  is  still  another.  But  the 
amount  of  labor  expended  in  production,  though  not  the  measure, 
is,  in  the  long  run,  the  regulator  of  value;  for  every  new  invention 
wBich  abridges  labor,  and  enables  an  individual  or  company  to 
offer  an  increased  supply  of  valuable  articles  in  the  market  brings 
with  it  an  increase  of  competition.  For,  supposing  that  one  dollar 
constitutes  a  fair  day's  wages,  and  that  one  man  by  a  certain  pro- 
cess   can    produce    an    article    valued    in    the    market    at    one 


*"I  now  undertake  to  afiirm  ijositively,  and  without  the  least  fear 
that  I  can  be  answered,  what  heretofore  I  have  but  suggested— that  a 
paper  Issued  by  the  government,  with  the  simple  promise  to  receive  it  in 
all  Its  dues,  leaving  its  creditors  to  take  it  or  gold  and  silver  at  their 
option,  would,  to  the  extent  that  it  would  circulate,  form  a  perfect 
paper-circulation,  which  could  not  bo  abused  by  the  government;  that 
it  would  be  as  steady  and  uniform  in  value  as  the  metals  themselves; 
and  that,  if  by  possibility,  it  should  depreciate,  the  loss  would  fall,  not 
on  the  people,  but  on  the  government  Itself,"  etc.— .1.  C.  Calhodn: 
Speech  in  reply  to  Mr.  Webster  on  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill,  March  22, 1838. 


44  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

dollar  in  half  a  day's  labor,  other  men  will  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  same  process,  and  undersell  the  first  man, 
in  order  to  get  possession  of  the  market.  Thus,  by  the  effect 
of  competition,  the  price  of  the  article  will  probably  be  ultimately 
reduced  to  fifty  cents.  Labor  is  the  true  regulator  of  value;  for 
every  laboring  man  who  comes  into  competition  with  others  in- 
creases the  supply  of  the  products  of  labor,  and  thus  diminishes 
their  value;  while  at  the  same  time,  and  because  he  is  a  living 
man,  he  increases  the  demand  for  those  products  to  precisely  the 
same  extent,  and  thus  restores  the  balance:  for  the  laborer  must  be 
housed,  clothed  and  subsisted  by  the  products  of  his  labor.  Thus 
the  addition  of  a  laboring  man,  or  of  any  number  of  laboring  men, 
to  the  mass  of  producers,  ought  to  have  no  efiect  either  upon  the 
price  of  labor,  or  upon  that  of  commodities;  since,  if  the  laborer  by 
his  presence  increases  the  productive  power,  he  at  the  same  lime 
increases  the  demand  for  consumption.  We  know  that  things  do 
not  always  fall  out  thus  in  practice;  but  the  irregularity  is  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  the  laborer,  who  ought  himself  to  have  the 
produce  of  his  labor,  or  its  equivalent  in  exchange,  has,  by  the 
present  false  organization  of  credit,  his  wages  abstracted  from  him. 
Want  and  over-production  arise  sometimes  from  mistakes  in  the  di- 
rection of  labor,  but  generally  from  that  false  organization  of 
credit  which  now  obtains  throughout  the  civilized  world.  There  is 
a  market  price  of  commodities,  depending  on  supply  and  demand, 
and  a  natural  price,  depending  on  the  cost  of  production;  and  the 
market  price  is  in  a  state  of  continual  oscillation,  being  sometimes 
above,  and  sometimes  below,  the  natural  price:  but  in  the  long  run, 
the  average  of  a  series  of  years  being  taken,  it  coincides  with  it.  It 
is  probable  that,  under  a  true  organization  of  credit,  the  natural 
price  and  market  price  would  coincide  at  every  moment.*  Under 
the  present  system,  there  are  no  articles  whose  market  and  natural 
prices  coincide  so  nearly  and  so  constantly  as  those  of  the  precious 
metals;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  they  have  been  adopted  by  the 
various  nations  as  standards  of  value. 

When  Adam  .Smith  and  Malthust  say  that  labor  is  a  measure  of 


*The  theory  tlial  the  laborer  should  receive  sufficient  wages  to  buy 
back  liis  product,  and  thus  prevent  over-production,  was  discovered  ;il- 
most  .simultaneously  by  a  number  of  writers  about  fifty  years  ago.  The 
value  of  this  discovery  to  economics  is  as  great  as  Newton's  was  to 
physics,  or  Darwin's  to  biology.— Editor. 

tMalthus  says  (we  quote  the  sub.stance,  and  very  possibly  the  exact 
words,  though  we  have  not  tlio  book  by  us):  "If  a  man  Is  born  into  a 
world  already  occupied,  and  his  family  Is  not  able  to  support  him,  or  if 
society  has  no  demand  for  his  lubor,  t  hat  man  has  no  right  to  claim  uny 
nourishment  whatever;  he  Is  really  one  too  miiny  on  the  earth.  At  the; 
great  banquet  of  nature  there  Is  no  plate  laid  for  him.  Nature  com- 
mands him  to  take  liimself  away;  and  she  will  by  no  means  delay  In 
putting  her  own  order  into  execution." 


PETITION  FOR  A  MUTUAL  BANKING  LAW.     45 

value,  they  speak,  not  of  the  labor  which  an  article  cost,  or  ought  to 
have  cost,  in  its  production,  but  of  the  quantity  of  labor  which  the 
article  may  purchase  or  command.  It  is  very  well,  for  those  who 
mistake  the  philosophy  of  speculation  on  human  misfortune  and 
necessities  for  social  science,  to  assume  for  measure  of  value  the 
amount  of  labor  which  different  commodities  can  command.  Con- 
sidered from  this  point  of  view,  the  price  of  commodities  is  regu- 
lated, not  in  the  labor  expended  in  their  production,  but  by  the 
distress  and  want  of  the  laboring  class.  There  is  no  device  of  the 
political  economists  so  infernal  as  the  one  which  ranks  labor  as  a 
commodity,  varying  in  value  according  to  supply  and  demand. 
Neither  is  there  any  device  so  unphilosophical;  since  the  ratio  of 
the  supply  of  labor  to  the  demand  for  it  is  unvarying:  for  every 
producer  is  also  a  consumer,  and  rightfully,  to  the  precise  extent  of 
the  amount  of  his  products;  the  laborer  who  saves  up  his  wages 
being,  so  far  as  society  is  concerned,  and  in  the  long  run,  a  consum- 
er of  those  wages.  The  supply  and  demand  for  labor  is  virtually 
unvarying;  and  its  price  ought,  therefore,  to  be  constant.  Labor 
is  said  to  be  value,  not  because  it  is  itself  merchandise,  but  because 
of  the  values  it  contains,  as  it  were,  in  solution,  or,  to  use  the.cor- 
rect  metaphysical  term,  in  potentia.  The  value  of  labor  is  a 
figurative  expression,  and  a  fiction,  like  the  productiveness  of  cap- 
ital. Labor,  like  liberty,  love,  ambition,  genius,  is  something 
vague  and  indeterminate  in  its  nature,  and  is  rendered  definite  by 
its  object  only;  misdirected  labor  produces  no  value.  Labor  is  said 
to  be  valuable,  not  because  it  can  itself  be  valued,  but  because  tlie 
products  of  labor  may  be  truly  valuable.  When  we  say  "John's 
labor  is  worth  a  dollar  a  day,"  it  is  as  though  we  said,  "The  daily 
product  of  John's  labor  is  worth  a  dollar."  To  speak  of  labor  as 
merchandise  is  treason;  for  such  speech  denies  the  true  dignity  of 
man,  who  is  the  king  of  the  earth.  Where  labor  is  merchandise  in 
fact  (not  by  a  mere  inaccuracy  of  language)  there  man  is  merchan- 
dise also,  whether  it  be  in  England  or  South  Carolina. 

THE  WAY   IN   WHICH  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  MUTUAL  BANK  MAY   BE 

CLOSED. 

When  the  company  votes  to  issue  no  more  money,  the  bills  it 
has  already  issued  will  bo  returned  upon  it;  for,  since  the  bills 
were  issued  in  discounting  notes  running  to  maturity,  the  debtors 
of  the  bank,  as  their  notes  mature,  will  pay  in  the  bills  they  have 
received.  When  the  debtors  have  paid  their  debts  to  t^ie  bank, 
then  the  bills  are  all  in,  every  debtor  has  discharged  his  mortgage, 
and  the  affairs  of  the  bank  are  closed.  If  any  debtor  fails  to  pay. 
the  bank  sells  the  property  mortgaged,  and  pays  itself.  Tiie  bank 
lends  at  a  rate  of  interest  that  covers  its  bare  expenses:  it  makes, 
therefore,  no  profits,  and,  consequently,  eau  declare  no  dividends. 
It  is  by  its  nature  incapable  of  owing  anything:  it  lias,  therefore. 
no  debts  to  settle.    When  the  bank's  debtors  have  paid   their  delits 


46  MUTUAL  BANKING. 

to  the  bank,  then  nobody  owes  anything  to  the  bank,  and  the  bank 
owes  nothing  to  anybody. 

In  case  some  of  the  debtors  of  the  bank  redeem  their  notes,  not 
in  bills  of  the  Mutual  Bank,  but  in  bills  of  specie-paying  banks, 
then  those  bills  of  specie-paying  banks  will  be  at  once  presented  for 
redemption  at  the  institutions  that  issued  them;  and  an  amount  of 
specie  will  come  into  the  hands  of  the  Mutual  Bank,  precisely 
equal  to  the  amount  of  its  own  bills  still  in  circulation;  for  since 
the  Mutual  Bank  never  issues  money,  except  in  discounting  notes 
running  to  maturity,  the  notes  of  the  debtors  to  the  bank  precisely 
cover  the  amount  of  the  bank's  money  in  circulation.  When  this 
specie  comes  into  the  hands  of  the  bank,  it  deposits  it  at  once  in 
some  other  institution;  which  institution  assumes  the  responsibility 
of  redeeming  at  sight  such  of  the  bills  of  the  closed  bank  as  may  be 
at  any  time  thereafter  presented  for  redemption.  And  such  institu- 
tion will  gladly  assume  this  responsibility,  since  it  is  probable  that 
many  of  the  bills  will  be  lost  or  destroyed,  and  therefore  never  pre- 
sented for  redemption;  and  such  loss  or  destruction  will  be  a  clear 
gain  to  the  institution  assuming  the  responsibility,  since  it  has  spe- 
cie turned  over  to  it  for  the  redemption  of  every  one  of  the  bills 
that  remains  out. 

Finally:  let  us  conceive,  for  a  moment,  of  the  manifold  imper- 
fections of  the  existing  system  of  banking.  In  Massachusetts,  the 
banks  had  out,  in  the  year  1849,  nine  and  one-half  dollars  of  paper* 
for  every  one  dollar  of  specie  in  their  vaults  wherewith  to  redeem 
them.  Can  any  thing  be  more  absurd  than  the  solemn  promise  made 
by  the  banks  to  redeem  nine  and  one-half  paper-dollars  with  one 
dollar  in  specie?  They  may  get  along  very  well  with  this  promise 
in  a  time  of  profound  calm;  but  what  would  they  do  on  occasions  of 
panic'?t 

The  paper  issued  under  the  existing  system  is  an  article  of  mer- 
chandise, varying  in  price  with  the  variations  of  supply  and  de- 
mand: it  is,  therefore,  unlit  to  serve  as  a  medium  of  exchange. 

The  banks  depend  on  the  merchants;  so  that,  when  the  mer- 
chant is  poor,  it  falls  out  that  the  bank  is  always  still  poorer.  Of 
what  use  is  the  bank,  if  it  calls  in  its  issues  in  hard  times— the  very 
occasions  when  increased  issues  are  demanded  by  the  wants  of  the 
community? 

The  existing  bank  reproduces  the  aristocratic  organizations;  it 
has  its  Spartan  element  of  privileged  stockholders,  its  Laconian 
element  of  obsequious  speculators,  and,  on  the  outside,  a  multitude 
of  Helots  who  are  excluded  from  its  advantages.     Answer  us,  read- 


♦Countlng,  of  course,  the  certificates  of  deposit  wliich  are  convertible 
Into  specie  on  demand. 

tNotwlthstanding  the  fact  that  this  work  was  written  in  criticism  of 
the  banking  system  In  vogue  In  IH.'jO,  most  pi'oi)le  jjorslst  In  calling:  it  a 
"revival  of  the  old  wild-cat  banks  that  e.xisted  before  the  war."— Editor 


PETITION  FOR  A  MUTUAL  BANKING  LAW.     47 

er:  If  we  are  able,  at  this  time,  to  bring  forward  the  existing  bank- 
ing system  as  a  new  thing,  and  should  recommend  its  adoption,  would 
you  not  laugh  in  our  face,  and  characterize  our  proposition  as  ridic- 
ulous? Yet  the  existing  system  has  an  actual  and  practical  being, 
in  spite  of  all  its  imperfections:  nay,  more,  it  is  the  ruling  element 
of  the  present  civilization  of  the  Christian  world;  it  has  substituted 
itself,  or  is  now  substituting  itself,  in  the  place  of  monarchies  and 
nobilities.  Who  is  the  noble  of  the  present  day,  if  not  the  man  who 
lends  money  at  interest?  Who  is  the  emperor,  if  not  Pereire  or 
Baron  Rothschild?  Now,  if  the  present  system  of  banking  is  capa- 
ble of  actual  existence,  how  much  more  capable  of  actual  existence 
is  the  system  of  mutual  banking!  Mutual  banking  combines  all 
the  good  elements  of  the  method  now  in  operation,  and  is  capable 
of  securing  a  thousand  beneflts  which  the  present  method  cannot 
compass,  and  is,  moreover,  free  from  all  its  disadvantages! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    PROVINCIAL  LAND  BANK.* 

"In  the  year  1714,"  says  Governor  Hutchinson,  in  his  "His- 
tory of  Massachusetts,"  a  certain  "party  had  projected  a  private 
bank;  or,  rather,  had  taken  up  a  project  published  in  London  in 
the  year  1684;  but  this  not  being  generally  known  in  America,  a 
merchant  of  Boston  was  the  reputed  father  of  it.  There  was  noth- 
ing more  in  it  than  Issuing  bills  of  credit,  which  all  the  members  of 
the  company  promised  to  receive  as  money,  but  at  no  certain  value 
compared  with  silver  and  gold;  and  real  estate  to  a  sufficient  value 
were  to  be  bound  as  a  security  that  the  company  should  perform 
their  engagements.  They  were  soliciting  the  sanction  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  and  an  act  of  government  to  incorporate  them.  This 
party  generally  consisted  of  persons  in  difficult  or  involved  circum- 
stances in  trade;  or  such  as  were  possessed  of  real  estates;  but  had 
little  or  no  ready  money  at  command;  or  men  of  no  substance  at  all; 
and  we  may  well  enough  suppose  the  party  to  be  very  numerous. 
Some,  no  doubt,  joined  them  from  mistaken  principles,  and  an  ap- 
prehension that  it  was  a  scheme  beneficial  to  the  public;  and  some 
for  party's  sake  and  public  applause. 

"Three  of  the  representatives  from  Boston — Mr.  Cooke;  Mr. 
Noyes,  a  gentlemen  in  great  esteem  with  the  inhabitants  in  gen- 
eral; and  Mr.  Payne— were  the  supporters  of  the  party.  Mr. 
Hutchinson,  the  other  (an  attempt  to  leave  him  out  of  the  House 
not  succeeding),  was  sent  from  the  House  to  the  Council,  where  his 
opposition  would  be  of  less  consequence.  The  governor  was  no 
favorer  of  the  scheme;  but  the  lieutenant-governor — a  gentleman 
of  no  great  fortune,  and  whose  stipend  from  the  government  was 
trifling— engaged  in  the  cause  with  great  zeal. 

"A  third  party,  though  very  opposite  to  the  private  bank,  yet 
were  no  enemies  to  bills  of  credit.  They  were  in  favor  of  loan-bills 
from  the  government  to  any  of  the  inhabitants  who  would  mort- 
gage their  estates  as  a  security  for  the  repayment  of  the  bills  with 
interest  in  a  term  of  years:  the  interest  to  be  paid  annually,  and 
applied  to  the  support  of  government.  This  was  an  easy 
way  of  paying  public  charges;  which,  no  doubt,  they  won- 
dered that  in  so  many  ages  the  wisdom  of  other  govern- 
ments had  never  discovered.  The  principal  men  of  the 
Council  were  in   favor  of  it;  and,   it  being    thought  by  the  first 


*It  is  worthy  of  note  tli.'il  tho  prosent-day  liistorliins,  wlio  take  such 
pains  to  sliow  their  intirn<alo  knowledKn  of  tlio  financJEil  plans  of  remote 
times,  studiously  avoid  mentioning  this  one.— Editor. 


THE  PROVINCIAL  LAND  BANK.  ^ 

party  the  least  of  two  evils,  they  fell  in  with  the  scheme;  and,  after 
that,  the  country  was  divided  between  the  public  and  private  bank. 
The  House  of  Eepresentatives  was  nearly  equally  divided,  but 
rather  favorers  of  the  private  bank,  from  the  great  influence  of  the 
Boston  members  In  the  House,  and  a  great  number  of  persons  of  the 
town  out  of  it.  The  controversy  had  a  universal  spread,  and  di- 
vided towns,  parishes,  and  particular  families. 

"At  length,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  party  for  the  public  bank 
prevailed  in  the  General  Court  for  a  loan  of  £.50.000  in  bills  of  credit, 
which  were  put  into  the  hands  of  trustees,  and  let  for  five  years 
only,  to  any  of  the  inhabitants,  at  5  per  cent  interest,  one-fifth  part 
of  the  principal  to  be  paid  annually.  This  lessened  the  number  of 
the  party  for  the  private  bank;  but  it  increased  the  zeal,  and  raised 
a  strong  resentment,  in  those  that  remained."— (Thomas  Hutchin- 
son: "History  of  Massachusetts,"  vol.  ii.,  p  188). 

It  is  utterly  inconceivable  that  any  company  of  sane  men  should 
have  seriously  proposed  to  issue  paper  money  destitute  of  all  fixed 
and  determinate  value  as  compared  with  gold  and  silver,  imagining 
that  such  money  would  circulate  as  currency.  If  paper  money  has 
"no  certain  value  compared  with  silver  and  gold,"  it  has  no  certain 
value  compared  with  any  commodity  whatever;  that  is,  it  has  no 
certain  value  at  all:  for,  since  gold  and  silver  have  a  determinate 
value  as  compared  with  exchangeable  commodities,  all  paper  money 
that  may  be  estimated  in  terms  of  marketable  commodities,  may  be 
estimated  in  terms  of  silver  and  gold.  Our  author  will  permit  us  to 
suspect  that  his  uncompromising  hostility,  not  only  to  the  land- 
bank,  but  also  to  everything  else  of  a  democratic  tendency,  blinded 
his  eyes  to  the  true  nature  of  the  institution  he  describes.  Our  sus- 
picion is  strengthened  when  we  read  that  the  paper  money  in  ques- 
tion was  to  have  a  determinate  value,  since  it  was  to  have  been  se- 
cured by  a  pledge  of  "real  estate  to  a  sufficient  value."  The  pro- 
jectors of  the  scheme  probably  Intended  that  the  members  of  the 
company  should  redeem  their  bills  from  the  bill-holders  by  receiv- 
ing them,  in  all  payments,  in  lieu  of  determinate  and  specified 
amounts  of  gold  and  silver;  and  such  a  method  of  redemption 
would  have  given  the  bills  "a  certain  value  as  compared  with  sil- 
ver and  gold."* 

In  view  of  this  extract  from  Governor  Hutchinson's  history,  we 

*"North  Carolina,  just  after  the  Revolution,  issued  a  large  amount 
of  paper,  which  was  made  receivable  in  dues  to  her.  It  was  also  made  a 
legal  tender;  which,  of  course,  was  not  obligatory  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  A  large  amount,  say  between  four  and  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  remained  in  circulation  afttrthat period, and 
continued  to  circulate  for  more  than  twenty  years,  at  par  with  gold  and 
silver  duringthe  whole  time,  with  no  otiier  ad  vantage  than  being  received 
in  the  revenue  of  the  State,  whicli  was  much  less  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  per  annum."— John  C.  Calhoun:  Speech  on  the  bill  author- 
izing an  issue  of  treasury  notes.  Sent.  19.  isar. 


MUTUAL  BANKING. 

abandon  all  claims  to  novelty  or  originality  as  regards  our  own 
scheme  for  a  Mutual  Bank.  We  think  it  very  probable  that  our 
theory  dates  back  to  "the  project  published  in  London  in  the  year 
1684:"  but  we  affirm  nothing  positively  on  this  head,  since  we  are 
altogether  ignorant  of  the  details,  not  only  of  the  provincial  project, 
but  also  of  the  original  London  plan.  We  have  no  information  in 
regard  to  these  matters,  except  that  which  is  now  submitted  to  the 
reader. 

Our  author  says,  on  a  subsequent  page: 

"In  1739,  a  great  part  of  the  Province  was  disposed  to  favor 
what  was  called  the  land  bank  or  manufactory  scheme;  which  was 
begun,  or  rather  revived,  in  this  year,  and  produced  such  great  and 
lasting  mischiefs,  th.at  a  particular  relation  of  the  rise,  progress 
and  overthrow  of  it  may  be  of  use  to  discourage  any  attempts  of  the 
like  nature  in  future  ages."— ("History  of  Massachusetts,"  vol.  ii., 
352). 

It  appears  that  after  an  interval  of  twenty-five  years,  the  land- 
bank  scheme  rose  once  again  above  the  surface  of  the  political  and 
financial  waters.  Governor  Hutchinson  says  that  this  scheme  pro- 
duced "great  and  lasting  mischiefs."  Let  us  see  what  these  "mis- 
chiefs" were: 

"The  project  of  the  bank  of  1714  was  revived.  The  projector  of 
that  bank  now  put  himself  at  the  head  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
persons,  some  few  of  rank  and  good  estate,  but  generally  of  low 
condition  among  the  plebeians,  and  of  small  estate,  and  many  of 
them  perhaps  insolvent.  This  notable  company  were  to  give  credit 
to  £1.50,000  lawful  money,  to  be  issued  in  bills;  each  person  to  mort- 
gage a  real  estate  in  proportion  to  the  sums  he  subscribed  and  took 
out,  or  to  give  bond  with  two  sureties:  but  personal  security  was 
not  to  be  taken  for  more  than  £100  from  any  one  person.  Ten  direc- 
tors and  a  treasurer  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  company.  Every 
subscriber  or  partner  was  to  pay  3  p(>r  cent  interest  [per  annum] 
for  the  sum  taken  out,  and  .'5  per  cent  of  the  principal;*  and  he  that 
did  not  pay  bills  might  pay  the  produce  and  manufacture  of  the 
Province  at  such  rates  as  the  directors  from  time  to  time  should 
set:  and  they  [the  billsj  should  commonly  pass  in  lawful  money. 
The  pretence  was,  that,  by  thus  furnishing  a  medium  and  instru- 
ment of  trade,  not  only  the  inhabitants  in  general  would  be  better 
able  to  procure  the  Province  bills  of  credit  for  their  taxes,  but 
trade,  foreign  and  inland,  would  revive  and  flourish.  The  fate  of 
the  project  was  thought  to  depend  on  the  opinion  which  the  (len- 
eral  Court  should  form  of  it.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  have  a 
house  of  representatives  well  disposed.  Besides  the  800  persons 
subscribers,  the  needy  part  of  the  Province  in  general  favored  the 
scheme.  One  of  their  votes  will  go  as  far  in  elections  as  one  of  the 
most  opulent.    The  former  are  most  numerous;  and  it  appeared 

•Thus  the  whole  principal  would  be  paid  up  in  twenty  years. 


THE  PROVINCIAL  LAND  BA^'K.  51 

that  by  far  the  majority  of  representatives  for  1740  were  subscrib- 
ers to  or  favorers  of  the  scheme,  and  they  have  ever  since  been  dis- 
tinguished by  the  name  of  the  Land-Bank  House. 

"Men  of  estates  and  the  principal  merchants  of  the  Province 
abhorred  the  project,  and  refused  to  receive  the  bills;  but  great 
numbers  of  shop-keepers  who  had  lived  for  a  long  time  on  the 
fraud  of  a  depreciating  currency,  and  many  small  traders,  gave 
credit  to  the  bills.  The  directors,  it  was  said,  by  a  vote  of  the  com- 
pany, became  traders,*  and  issued  just  such  bills  as  they  thought 
proper,  without  any  fund  or  security  for  their  ever  being  redeemed. 
They  purchased  every  sort  of  commodity,  ever  so  much  a  drug,  for 
the  sake  of  pushing  off  their  bills;  and,  by  one  means  or  other,  a 
large  sum— perhaps  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  pounds— was  floated. 
To  lessen  the  temptation  to  receive  the  bills,  a  company  of  mer- 
chants agreed  to  issue  their  notes,  or  bills,  redeemable  in  silver  and 
gold  at  distant  periods,  much  like  the  scheme  in  1733,  and  attended 
with  no  better  effect.  The  governor  exerted  himself  to  blast  this 
fraudulent  undertaking— the  land-bank.  Not  only  such  civil  and 
military  officers  as  were  directors  or  partners,  but  all  who  received 
or  paid  any  of  the  bills  were  displaced.  The  governor  negatived  the 
person  chosen  speaker  of  the  House,  being  a  director  of  the  bank; 
and  afterwards  negatived  thirteen  of  the  newly  elected  counsellors, 
who  were  directors  or  partners  in,  or  favorers  of,  the  scheme.  But 
all  was  insufficient  to  suppress  it.  Perhaps  the  major  part  in  num- 
ber of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Province  openly  or  secretly,  were  well- 
wishers  of  it.  One  of  the  directors  afterwards  acknowledged  to  me 
that,  although  he  entered  into  the  company  with  a  view  to  the 
public  interest,  yet,  when  he  found  what  power  and  influence  they 
had  in  all  public  concerns,  he  was  convinced  it  was  more  than  be- 
longed to  them,  more  than  they  could  make  a  good  use  of,  and 
therefore  unwarrantable.  Many  of  the  more  sensible,  discreet  per- 
sons of  the  Province  saw  a  general  confusion  at  hand.  The  author- 
ity of  the  Parliament  to  control  all  public  and  private  persons  and 
proceedings  in  the  Colonies,  was  at  that  day  questioned  by  nobody. 
Application  was  therefore  made  to  I'arliament  for  an  act  to  sup- 
press the  company;  which,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  made  by 
their  agent,  was  very  easily  obtained,  and  therein  it  was  declared 
that  the  act  of  the  Sixth  of  King  (Jeorge  I.,  chapter  xviii.,  did, 
does  and  shall  extend  to  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  America. 
It  was  said  the  act  of  George  I.,  when  it  was  passed,  had  no  relation 
to  America;  but  another  act,  twenty  years  after,  gave  it  force,  even 
from  the  passing  it,  which  it  never  could  have  had  without.  This 
was  said  to  be  an  instance  of  the  transcendent  power  of  Parlia- 
ment. Although  the  company  was  dissolved,  yet  the  act  of  Parlia- 
ment gave  the  possessors  of  the  bills  a  right  of  action  against  every 


•See  foregoing  paragraph  where  It  is  said  that  debts  to  the  bank 
might  be  paid  in  manufactures  and  produce. 


52  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

partner  or  director  for  the  sums  expressed,  with  interest.  The 
company  was  in  a  maze.  At  a  general  meeting,  some,  it  is  said, 
were  for  running  all  hazards,  although  the  act  subjected  them  to  a 
pramunire;  but  the  directors  had  more  prudence,  and  advised  them 
to  declare  that  they  considered  themselves  dissolved,  and  meet  only 
to  consult  upon  some  method  of  redeeming  their  bills  of  the  posses- 
sors, which  every  man  engaged  to  endeavor  in  proportion  to  his  in- 
terest, and  to  pay  in  to  the  directors,  or  some  of  them,  to  burn  or 
destroy.  Had  the  company  issued  their  bills  at  the  value  expressed 
on  the  face  of  them,  they  would  have  had  no  reason  to  complain  at 
being  obliged  to  redeem  them  at  the  same  rate,  but  as  this  was  not 
the  case  in  general,  and  many  of  the  possessors  of  the  bills  had  ac- 
quired them  for  half  their  value,  as  expressed  equity  could  not 
be  done;  and,  so  far  as  respected  the  company,  perhaps,  the  Parlia- 
ment was  not  very  anxious;  the  loss  they  sustained  being  but  a  just 
penalty  for  their  unwarrantable  undertaking,  if  it  had  been  proper- 
ly applied.  Had  not  the  Parliament  interposed,  the  Province 
would  have  been  in  the  utmost  confusion,  and  the  authority  of 
government  entirely  in  the  Land-Bank  Company."— (p.  353.) 

The  "miscliiefs"  occasioned  by  this  land-bank  seems  to  have 
been  political,  rather  than  economical,  for  our  author  nowhere 
aflfirms  that  the  bill  holders,  not  members  of  the  company  lost  any- 
thing by  the  institution.  We  would  remark  that  there  are  certain 
"mischiefs"  which  are  regarded  not  without  indulgence  by  poster- 
ity. Governor  Hutchinson  ought  to  have  explained  more  in  detail 
the  nature  of  the  evils  he  complains  of;  and  also  to  have  told  us 
why  he,  a  declared  enemy  of  popular  institutions,  opposed  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  bank  so  uncompromisingly.  Mutualism  operates,  by 
its  very  nature,  to  render  political  government  founded  on  arbi- 
trary force,  superfluous;  that  is,  it  operates  to  the  decentralization 
of  the  political  power,  and  to  the  transformation  of  the  state,  by 
substituting  self-government  in  the  stead  of  government  ab  extra* 
The  Land-Bank  of  1740,  which  embodied  the  mutual  principle,  op- 
erated vigorously  in  opposition  to  the  government.  Can  we  wonder 
that  it  had  to  be  killed  by  an  arbitrary  stretch  "of  the  supreme 
power  of  Parliament,"  and  by  an  ex  post  facto  law  bearing 
outrageously  on  the  individual  members  of  the  company?  For  our 
part,  we  admire  the  energy — the  confidence  in  the  princii)lo  of  mu- 
tualism—of those  memb(!rs  who  proposed  to  go  on  in  spite  of 
Parliament,  "although  the  act  subjected  them  to  a  pro'iuunire." 
If  thi-y  had  gone  on,  they  would  simply  have  anticipated  the  Amer- 
ican Rev(jlution  by  some  thirty  years. 

But  wliere  is  tlie  warning  to  future  ages?  According  to  Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson's  own  statement,  the  fault  of  the  bank  was,  that 
it  would  have  succt^eded  too  well  if  it  had  had   a  fair  trial;  nay, 


*Tlils  Is  also   ProiuUion's  flioory;  wliicli   lu^   felicitously   c;ill<'(l  "t  lio 
dissolution  of  goveniuiciit  in  the  economic  organism." — EDrrOH. 


THE  PROVINCIAL  LAND  BANK.  5X 

that  it  would  have  succeeded  in  spite  of  ail  obstacles  had  it  not 
been  for  the  exertion  of  "the  transcendent  power  of  Parliament." 
Where  is  the  bank  of  these  degenerate  days  that  has  shown  any- 
thing like  the  same  power  of  endurance?  Someof  the  existing  banks 
find  it  diflBcult  to  live  with  the  power  of  government  exerted  in 
their  favor! 

The  attempt  of  the  Land-Bank  Company  to  republicanize  gold 
and  silver,  and  to  make  all  commodities  circulate  as  ready  money 
was,  without  question,  premature.  But  our  author  misapprehends 
the  matter,  mistaking  a  transformation  of  the  circulating  medium  for 
a  mercantile  scheme.  The  "vote  of  the  company  whereby  the  direc- 
tors became  traders,"  was  an  act  for  transforming  the  currency. 
We  do  not  justify  it  altogether;  for  it  put  the  welfare  of  the  cause 
at  too  great  hazard;  but  it  was,  nevertheless,  not  totally  out  of 
harmony  with  the  general  system.  We  remark  in  conclusion,  that 
the  depreciation  in  the  provincial  currency  was  occasioned,  not  by 
"land-bank,"  that  is,  by  mutual  paper— which  the  Parliament 
forced  the  issuers,  by  an  arbitrary,  vindictive,  and  tyrannical  law, 
to  redeem  with  interest — but  it  was  occasioned  by  government 
paper,  "professing  to  be  ultimately  redeemable  in  gold  and  silver."* 
All  arguments,  therefore,  against  mutual  money,  derived  from  the 
colonial  currency,  are  foreign  to  the  purpose. 

The  main  objections  against  mutual  banking  are  as  follows:  1. 
It  is  a  novelty,  and  therefore  a  chimera  of  the  inventor's  brain;  2. 
It  is  an  old  story,  borrowed  from  provincial  history,  and  therefore 
of  no  account! 

How  would  you  have  us  answer  objections  like  these?  Things 
new  or  old  may  be  either  good  or  evil.  Every  financial  scheme 
should  stand  or  fall  by  its  own  intrinsic  merits,  and  not  be  judged 
from  extraneous  considerations. 


*"We  are  told  that  there  is  no  instance  of  a  government  paper  that 
did  not  depreciate.  In  reply  I  affirm  that  there  is  none  assumiusthe 
form  I  propose  (notes  receivable  by  government  in  payment  of  dues) 
that  ever  did  depreciate.  Whenever  a  paper  roroivable  in  the  dues  of 
government  had  anything  like  a  fair  trial,  it  has  succeeded.  Instance 
the  case  of  North  Carolina  referred  to  in  my  opening  remarks.  The 
drafts  of  the  treasury  at  this  moment,  with  all  their  incumbrance,  are 
nearly  at  par  with  gold  and  silver;  and  I  migiit  add  the  Instance 
alluded  to  by  the  distinguished  senator  from  Kentucky,  in  which  he 
admits,  that  as  soon  as  tiio  excess  of  the  issues  of  tlie  t'ommonwealth 
Bank  of  Kentucky  were  reduced  to  the  proper  point,  its  notes  rose  to  par. 
The  case  of  Russia  might  also  be  mentioned.  In  1827  she  had  a  fixed 
paper-circulation  in  the  form  of  bank-notes,  but  which  were  Incon- 
vertible, of  upward  of  S120,000,000,  estimated  in  the  metallic  ruble,  and 
which  liad  for  years  remained  witliout  fluctuation;  having  notliingto 
sustain  it  but  that  it  was  received  in  tlio  dues  of  government,  and 
that,  too,  with  a  revenue  of  only  about  S".)0,000,000  annually."— .Tohn  C. 
Calhoun:  Speech  on  his  amendment  to  separate  the  government  from 
the  banks,  Oct.  3, 1837. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MONEY. 

The  most  concise  and  expressive  definition  of  the  term  "capi- 
tal," which  we  have  seen  in  the  writings  of  the  political  econo- 
mists, is  the  one  furnished  by  J.  Stuart  Mill,  in  his  table  of  con- 
tents. He  says:  "Capital  is  wealth  appropriated  to  reproductive 
employment."  There  is,  indeed,  a  certain  ambiguity  attached  to 
the  word  wealth;  but  let  that  pass;  we  accept  the  definition.  A 
tailor  has  $5  in  money,  which  he  proposes  to  employ  in  his  business. 
This  money  is  unquestionably  capital,  since  it  is  wealth  approjiri- 
ated  to  reproductive  employment:  but  it  may  be  expended  in  the 
purchase  of  cloth,  in  the  payment  of  journeymen's  wages,  or  in  a 
hundred  other  ways;  what  kind  of  capital,  then,  is  it?  It  is  evi- 
dently, disengaged  capital.  Let  us  say  that  the  tailor  takes  his 
money  and  expends  it  for  cloth;  this  cloth  is  also  devoted  to  repro- 
ductive employment,  and  is  therefore  still  capital;  but  what  kind  of 
capital?  Evidently,  engaged  capital.  He  makes  this  cloth  into  a 
coat;  which  coat  is  more  valuable  ihan  the  cloth,  since  it  is  the  re- 
sult of  human  labor  bestowed  upon  the  cloth.  But  the  coat  is  no 
longer  capital;  for  it  is  no  longer  (so  far,  at  least,  as  the  occupation 
of  the  tailor  is  concerned),  capable  of  being  appropriated  to  repro- 
ductive employment;  what  is  it,  then?  It  is  that  for  the  creation 
of  which  the  capital  was  originally  appropriated:  it  is  product. 
The  tailor  takes  this  coat  and  sells  it  in  the  market  for  ^8;  which 
dollars  become  to  him  a  new  disengaged  capital.  The  circle  is  com- 
plete; the  coat  becomes  engaged  capital  to  the  purchaser;  and  the 
money  is  disengaged  capital,  with  which  the  tailor  may  commence 
another  operation.  Money  is  disengaged  capital,  and  disengaged 
capital  is  money.  Capital  passes,  therefore,  through  various  forms; 
first  it  is  disengaged  capital,  then  it  becomes  engaged  capital,  then 
it  becomes  product,  afterwards  it  is  transformed  again  into  disen- 
gaged capital,  thus  recommencing  its  circular  progress. 

The  community  is  liappy  and  prosperous  when  all  professions 
of  men  easily  exchange  with  each  other  the  products  of  their  labor; 
that  is,  the  community  is  hai)py  and  prosperous  when  money  circu- 
lates freely,  and  each  man  is  able  with  facility  to  transform  his 
product  into  disengaged  capital,  for  with  disengaged  capital,  or 
money,  men  may  command  such  of  tlie  products  of  labor  as  they 
desire,  to  the  extent,  at  least,  of  the  purchasing  power  of  their 
money. 

The  community  is  unhappy,  unprosperous,  miserable,  when 
money  is  scarce,  when  exchanges  are  effected  with  difliculty.  For 
notice,  that,  in  the  present  state  of  the  world,  there  is  never  real 
over-production  to  any  appreciable  extent;  for,  whenever  the  baker 


MOJ^EY.  55 

has  too  much  bread,  there  are  always  laborers  who  could  produce 
that  of  which  the  baker  has  too  little,  and  who  are  themselves  in 
want  of  bread.  It  is  when  the  tailor  and  baker  cannot  exchange, 
that  there  is  want  and  over-production  on  both  sides.  Whatever, 
therefore,  has  power  to  withdraw  the  currency  from  circulation, 
has  power,  also,  to  cause  trade  to  stagnate;  power  to  overwhelm 
the  community  with  misery;  power  to  carry  want,  and  its  correla- 
tive, over-production,  into  every  artisan's  house  and  workshop. 
For  the  transformation  of  product  into  disengaged  capital,  is  one  of 
the  regular  steps  of  production;  and  whatever  withdraws  the  dis- 
engaged capital,  or  money,  from  circulation,  at  once  renders  this 
step  impossible,  and  thus  puts  a  drag  on  all  production. 

THERE  ARE  VARIOUS  KINDS  OF  MONEY. 

But  all  money  is  not  the  same  money.  There  is  one  money  of 
gold,  another  of  silver,  another  of  brass,  another  of  leather,  and 
another  of  paper:  and  there  is  a  difference  in  the  glory  of  these 
different  kinds  of  money.  There  is  one  money  that  is  a  commodity, 
having  its  exchangeable  value  determined  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  which  money  may  be  called  (though  somevvhat  barbarous- 
ly) merchandise-money;  as  for  instance,  gold,  silver,  brass,  bank- 
bills,  etc.;  there  is  another  money,  which  is  not  a  commodity, 
whose  exchangeable  value  is  altogether  independent  of  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand,  and  which  may  be  called  mutual  money. 

Mr.  Edward  Kellogg  says:  '"Money  becomes  worthless  when- 
ever it  ceases  to  be  capable  of  accumulating  an  income  which  can 
be  exchanged  for  articles  of  actual  value.  The  value  of  money  as 
much  depends  upon  its  power  of  being  loaned  for  an  income,  as  the 
value  of  a  farm  depends  upon  its  natural  power  to  produce."  And 
again:  ''Money  is  valuable  in  proportion  to  its  power  to  accum- 
ulate value  by  interest."*  Mr.  Kellogg  is  mistaken.  Money 
is  a  commodity  in  a  twofold  way,  and  has  therefore  a  twofold  val- 
ue and  a  twofold  price — one  value  as  an  article  that  can  be  ex- 
changed for  other  commodities,  and  another  value  as  an  article 
that  can  be  loaned  out  at  interest;  one  price  which  is  determined 
by  the  supply  and  demand  of  the  precious  metals,  and  another 
price  (the  rate  of  interest)  which  is  determined  by  the  distress  of 
the  borrowing  community.  Mr.  Kellogg  speaks  as  though  this  last 
value  and  last  price  were  the  only  ones  deserving  consideration; 
but  this  is  by  no  means  the  case:  for  this  last  value  and  price  are  so 
far  from  being  essential  to  the  nature' of  money,  that  the  Mutual 
Bank  will  one  day  utterly  abolish  them.  The  natural  value  of  the 
silver  dollar  depends  upon  the  demand  and  supply  of  the  metal  of 
which  it  is  composed  and  not  upon  its  artiticial  power  to  accumu- 
late value  by  interest.    Legislation  has  created    usury;  and  the 

♦People  who  raise  the  cry  of  "clieap  money"  fall  into  the  same  error; 
money  that  circulates  freely  at  par,  whether  interest-bearing  or  not,  Is 
neither  cheap  or  dear.— Editor. 


56  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

Mutual  Bank  can  destroy  it.  Usury  is  a  result  of  the  legislation 
which  establishes  a  particular  commodity  as  the  sole  article  of 
legal  tender;  and,  when  all  commodities  are  made  to  be  ready 
money  through  the  operation  of  mutual  banking,  usury  will  vanish. 

CONVERTIBLE    PAPER-MONEY    RENDERS    THE  STANDARD  OF  VALUE 

UNCERTAIN. 

To  show  the  efifect  of  variations  in  the  volume  of  the  existing 
circulating  medium,  not  only  on  foreign  commerce,  but  also  on  the 
private  interests  of  each  individual  member  of  the  community, 
we  will,  at  the  risk  of  being  tedious,  have  recourse  to  an  illustra- 
tion. Let  us  suppose  that  the  whole  number  of  dollars  (either  in 
specie  or  convertible  paper)  in  circulation,  at  a  particular  time,  is 
equal  to  Y;  and  that  the  sum  of  all  these  dollars  will  buy  a  certain 
determinate  quantity  of  land,  means  of  transportation,  merchan- 
dise, etc,  which  may  bo  represented  by  x;  for,  if  money  may  be 
taken  as  the  measure  and  standard  of  value  for  commodities,  then 
conversely,  commodities  may  be  taken  as  the  standard  and  measure 
of  value  for  money.  Let  us  say,  therefore,  that  the  whole  mass  of 
the  circulating  medium  is  equal  to  Y;  and  that  its  value,  estimated 
in  terms  of  land,  ships,  houses,  merchandise,  etc.,  is  equal  to  x.  If, 
now,  the  quantity  of  specie  and  convertible  paper  we  have  sup- 
posed to  be  in  circulation  be  suddenly  doubled,  so  that  the  whole 
mass  becomes  equal  in  volume  to  2Y,  the  value  of  the  whole  mass 
will  undergo  no  change,  but  will  still  be  equal  to  -t,  neither 
more  nor  less.  This  is  truly  wonderful!  Some  young  mathema- 
tician, fresh  from  his  algebra,  will  hasten  to  contradict  us,  and  say 
that  the  value  of  the  whole  mass  will  be  equal  to  2.r,  or  perhaps  to 
X  divided  by  2,  but  it  is  the  young  mathematician  who  is  in  error,  as 
may  easily  be  made  manifest.  The  multiplication  of  the  whole 
number  of  dollars  by  2  causes  money  to  bo  twice  as  easy  to  be  ob- 
tained as  it  was  before.  Such  multiplication  causes,  therefore, 
each  individual  dollar  to  fall  to  one-half  its  former  value;  and  this 
for  the  simple  reason  that  the  price  of  silver  dollars,  or  their  equiv- 
alents in  convertible  paper,  depends  upon  the  ratio  of  the  supply  of 
such  dollars  to  the  demand  for  them,  and  that  every  increase  in  the 
supply  causes  therefore  a  proportionate  decrease  in  the  price.  The 
variation  in  the  volume  docs  not  cause  a  variation  in  the  value  of 
the  volume,  but  causes  a  variation  in  the  price  of  the  individual 
dollar.  Again,  if  one-half  the  money  in  circulation  bo  suddenly 
withdrawn,  so  that  the  whole  volume  shall  equal  XY,  the  value  of 
the  new  voluine  will  b(i  exactly  Cijual  to  .r,  for  the  reason  that  the 
dilliculty  in  procuring  money  will  be  doubled,  since  the  supply  will 
be  diminished  one-half,  causing  each  individual  dollar  to  rise  to 
double  its  former  value.  The  value;  of  the  whole,  mass  in  circula- 
tion is  independent  of  the  variations  of  the  volume;  for  every  in- 
crease in  the  volume  causes  a  proportionate  decrease  in  the  value 
of  the  iiulividual  dollar,  and  every  decrease  in  the  volume  causes 
proportionate  increase  in  the  value  of  the  individual  dollar.    If  the 


MONEY.  57 

mass  of  our  existing  circulating  medium  v;ere  increased  a  hundred- 
fold, the  multiplication  would  have  no  effect  other  than  that  of 
reducing  the  value  of  the  individual  dollar  to  that  of  the  existing 
individual  cent.  If  gold  were  as  plenty  as  Iron,  it  would  command 
no  higher  price  than  iron.  If  our  money  were  composed  of  iron,  we 
should  be  obliged  to  hire  an  ox-cart  for  the  transportation  of  SlOO; 
and  it  would  be  asdifficult,  under  such  conditions,  to  obtain  a  cart- 
load of  iron,  as  it  is  now  to  obtain  its  value  in  our  present  currency. 

A  fall  or  rise  in  the  price  of  money,  and  a  rise  or  fall  in  the 
price  of  all  other  commodities  besides  money,  are  precisely  the  same 
economical  phenomenon. 

The  effect  of  a  change  in  the  volume  of  the  currency  is  there- 
fore not  a  change  in  the  value  of  the  whole  volume,  but  a  change  in 
the  value  of  the  individual  silver  dollar,  this  change  being  indi- 
cated by  a  variation  in  the  price  of  commodities;  a  fall  in  the  price 
of  the  silver  dollar  being  indicated  by  a  rise  in  the  price  of  commo- 
dities, and  a  rise  in  the  price  of  the  dollar  being  indicated  by 
a  fall  in  the  price  of  commodities.  "The  value  of  money,"  says  J. 
Stuart  Mill,  other  things  being  the  same,  "varies  inversely  as  its 
quantity;  every  increase  of  quantity  lowering  its  value,  and  every 
diminution  raising  it  in  a  ratio  exactly  equivalent.  That  an  increase 
of  the  quantity  of  money  raises  prices,  and  a  diminution  lowers 
them,  is  the  most  elementary  proposition  in  the  theory  of  the  cur- 
rency; and,  without  it,  we  should  have  no  key  to  any  of  the  others." 

Let  us  use  this  key  for  the  purpose  of  unlocking  the  practical 
mysteries  attached  to  variations  in  the  volume  of  the  existing  cur- 
rency. The  banks,  since  they  exercise  control  over  the  volume  of 
the  currency  by  means  of  the  power  they  possess  of  increasing  or 
diminishing,  at  pleasure,  the  amount  of  paper  money  in  circula- 
tion, exercise  control  also  over  the  value  of  every  individual  dollar 
in  every  private  man's  pocket.  They  make  great  issues,  and  money 
becomes  plenty;  that  is  to  say,  every  other  commodity  becomes 
dear.  The  capitalist  sells  what  he  has  to  sell  while  prices  are  high. 
The  banks  draw  in  their  issues,  and  money  becomes  scarce;  that  is, 
all  other  commodities  become  cheap.  The  community  is  distressed 
for  money.  Individuals  are  forced  to  sell  property  to  raise  money 
to  pay  their  debts,  and  to  sell  at  a  loss  on  account  of  the  state  of 
the  market.  Then  the  capitalist  buys  what  he  desires  to  buy  while 
prices  are  low.  These  operations  are  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill- 
stones, between  which  the  hopes  of  the  people  are  ground  to  pow- 
der. THE  EVILS  OP  CONVERTIBLE  PAPER  MONEY. 

Paper  professing  to  be  convertible  into  silver  and  gold,  by  over- 
stocking the  home-market  with  money,  makes  specie  to  be  in  less 
demand  in  this  country  than  it  is  abroad,  and  renders  prolitable  an 
undue  exportation  of  gold  and  silver;  thus  occasioning  a  chronic 
drain  of  the  precious  metals.* 


"Persons  of    little  foresight  rejoice  in  the  IukIi  price  of  conimodi- 


58  MUTUAL  BANKING. 

It  increases  the  volume  of  the  currency,  and  therefore  decreases 
the  value  of  the  individual  silver  dollar;  thus  causing  an  enhance- 
ment in  the  price  of  all  domestic  commodities;  giving  an  unnatural 
advantage  in  our  own  markets  to  foreign  manufacturers,  who  live 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  more  valuable  currency  and  presenting  irre- 
sistible inducements  to  our  own  merchants  to  purchase  abroad 
rather  than  at  home. 

It  operates  to  give  control  over  the  currency  to  certain  organ- 
ized bodies  of  men,  enabling  them  to  exercise  partiality,  and  loan 
capital  to  their  relatives  and  favorites;  thus  encouraging  incapac- 
ity, and  depressing  merit;  and  therefore  demoralizing  the  people 
who  are  led  to  believe  that  legitimate  business,  which  should  be 
founded  altogether  upon  capital,  industry  and  talent,  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  court-favor  and  gambling. 

It  operates  to  eucourage  unwise  speculation;  and,  by  furnishing 
artificial  facilities  to  rash,  scheming  and  incompetent  persons,  in- 
duces the  burying  of  immense  masses  of  capital  in  unremunerative 
enterprises. 

It  reduces  the  value  of  our  own  currency  below  the  level  of  the 
value  of  money  throughout  the  world,  rendering  over-importation 
inevitable,  causing  our  markets  to  be  overstocked  with  foreign 
goods,  and  thus  making  the  ordinary  production  of  the  country  to 
present  all  the  calamitous  effects  of  over-production. 

It  operates  inevitably  to  involve  the  country  and  individuals 
doing  business  in  the  country,  in  foreign  debts.  It  operates  also,  by 
blinding  the  people  to  the  true  nature  of  money,  and  encouraging 
them  to  raise  funds  for  the  commencement  and  completion  of  haz- 
ardous enterprises  by  the  sale  of  scrip  and  bonds  abroad,  to  mort- 
gage the  country,  and  the  produce  of  its  industry,  to  foreign  hold- 
ers of  obligations  against  us,  etc. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  A  MUTUAL  CURRENCY. 

Mutual  Banks  would  furnish  an  adequate  currency;  for  whether 
money  were  hard  or  easy,  all  legitimate  paper  would  be  discounted 
by  them.  At  present,  banks  draw  in  their  issues  when  money  is 
scarce  (the  very  time  when  a  large  issue  is  desirable),  because  they 
are  afraid  there  will  be  a  run  upon  them  for  specie;  but  Mutual 
Banks,  having  no  fear  of  a  run  upon  them— as  they  have  no  metal- 
lic capital,  and  never  pretend  to  pay  specie  for  their  bills— can  al- 
ways discount  good  paper. 

It  may  appear  to  some  readers,  notwithstanding  the  explana- 


tles— tliat  Is,  In  the  low  price  or  plcntlfulness  of  money— not  reflecting 
that,  when  money  is  too  plenty,  the  sap  and  vitality  of  the  country  How 
forth  In  a  constant  stream  to  enrich  forclKn  lands.  An  excessive  supply 
of  money  causes  a  deceitful  appearance  of  prosperity,  and  favors  tempo- 
rarily a  few  manufacturers,  traders  and  mechanics;  but  It  Is  always  a 
source  of  unnumbered  calamities  to  the  whole  country. 


MOJsEY.  59 

tions  already  given*,  that  we  go  altogether  farther  than  we  are 
warranted  when  we  affirm  that  the  creation  of  an  immense  mass  of 
mutual  money  would  produce  no  depreciation  in  the  price  of  the  sil- 
ver dollar.  The  difficulty  experienced  in  understanding  this  matter 
results  from  incorrect  notions  respecting  the  standard  of  value,  the 
measure  of  value,  and  the  nature  of  money.  This  may  be  made 
evident  by  illustration.  The  yard  is  a  measure  of  length;  and  a 
piece  of  wood,  or  a  rod  of  glass  or  metal,  is  a  corresponding  stand- 
ard of  length.  The  yard,  or  measure,  being  ideal,  is  unvarying;  but 
all  the  standards  we  have  mentioned  contract  or  expand  by  heat  or 
cold,  so  that  they  vary  (to  an  almost  imperceptible  degree,  perhaps) 
at  every  moment.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  measure  off  a  yard,  or 
any  other  given  length,  with  mathematical  accuracy.  The  meas- 
ure of  value  is  the  dollar;  the  standard  of  value,  as  fixed  by  law,  is 
silver  or  gold  at  a  certain  degree  of  fineness.  Corn,  land,  or  any 
other  merchantable  commodity  might  serve  as  a  standard  of  value, 
but  silver  and  gold  form  a  more  perfect  standard,  on  account  of 
their  being  less  liable  to  variation;  and  they  have  accordingly  been 
adopted,  by  the  common  consent  of  all  nations,  to  serve  as  such. 
The  dollar,  as  simple  measure  of  value,  has— like  the  yard,  which  is 
a  measure  of  length— an  ideal  existence  only.  In  Naples,  the  ducat 
is  the  measure  of  value;  but  the  Neapolitans  have  no  specific  coin 
of  that  denomination.  Now,  it  is  evident  that  the  bill  of  a  Mutual 
Bank  is  like  a  note  of  hand,  or  like  an  ordinary  bank  bill,  neither  a 
measure,  nor  a  standard  of  value.  It  is  (1)  not  a  measure;  for,  un- 
like all  measures,  it  has  an  actual,  and  not  a  merely  ideal  existence. 
The  bill  of  a  Mutual  Bank,  being  receivable  in  lieu  of  a  specified 
number  of  silver  dollars  presupposes  the  existence  of  the  silver  dol- 
lar as  measure  of  value,  and  acknowledges  itself  as  amenable  to 
that  measure.  The  silver  dollar  differs  from  a  bill  of  a  Mutual 
Bank  receivable  in  lieu  of  a  silver  dollar,  as  the  measure  differs 
from  the  thing  measured.  The  bill  of  a  Mutual  Bank  is  (2)  not  a 
standard  of  value,  because  it  has  in  itself  no  intrinsic  value,  like 
silver  and  gold;  its  value  being  legal,  and  not  actual.  A  stick  has 
actual  length,  and  therefore  may  serve  as  a  standard  of  length; 
silver  has  actual  intrinsic  value,  and  may  therefore  serve  as  a 
standard  of  value;  but  the  bill  of  a  Mutual  Bank,  having  a  legal 
value  only,  and  not  an  actual  one,  cannot  serve  as  a  standard  of 
value,  but  is  referred,  on  the  contrary,  to  silver  and  gold  as  that 
standard,  without  which  it  would  itself  be  utterly  unintelligible. 

If  ordinary  bank  bills  represented  specie  actually  existing  in 
the  vaults  of  the  banks,  no  mere  issue  or  withdrawal  of  them 
could  effect  a  fall  or  rise  in  the  value  of  money;  for  every  issue  of  a 
dollar-bill  would  correspond  to  the  locking  up  of  a  specie  dollar  in 

♦Perhaps  on  account  of  those  explanations.  As  hc:it  melts  wax,  and 
hardens  clay,  so  the  same  general  principles,  as  applied  to  merchandise 
money  and  to  mutual  money,  give  opposite  results. 


60  MUTUAL   BANKI^^G 

the  bank's  vaults;  and  every  cancelling  of  a  dollar-bill  would  cor- 
respond to  the  issue  by  the  banks  of  a  specie  dollar.  It  is  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  banking  privileges — that  is,  by  the  issue  of  bills  purporting 
to  be,  but  which  are  not,  convertible — that  the  banks  effect  a  de- 
preciation in  the  price  of  the  silver  dollar.  It  is  this  fiction  (by 
which  legal  value  is  assimilated  to,  and  becomes,  to  all  business  in- 
tents and  purposes,  actual  value)  that  enables  bank-notes  to  depre- 
ciate the  silver  dollar.  Substitute  verity  in  the  place  of  fiction, 
either  by  permitting  the  banks  to  issue  no  more  paper  than  they 
have  specie  in  their  vaults,  or  by  effecting  an  entire  divorce  between 
bank-paper  and  its  pretended  specie  basis,  and  the  power  of  paper 
to  depreciate  specie  is  at  an  end.  So  long  as  the  fiction  is  kept  up, 
the  silver  dollar  is  depreciated,  and  tends  to  emigrate  for  the  pur- 
pose of  traveling  in  foreign  parts;  but  the  moment  the  fiction  is  de- 
stroyed, the  power  of  paper  over  metal  ceases.  By  its  intrinsic 
nature  specie  is  merchandise,  having  its  value  determined,  as  such, 
by  supply  and  demand;  but  on  the  contrary,  paper-money  is,  by  its 
intrinsic  nature,  not  merchandise,  but  the  means  whereby  merchan- 
dise is  exchanged,  and  as  such  ought  always  to  be  commensurate  in 
quantity  with  the  amount  of  merchandise  to  be  exchanged,  be  that 
amount  great  or  small.  Mutual  money  is  measured  by  specie,  but 
is  in  no  way  assimilated  to  it;  and  therefore  its  issue  can  have  no 
effect  whatever  to  cause  a  rise  or  fall  in  the  price  of  the  precious 
metals. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CREDIT. 

We  are  obliged  to  make  a  supposition  by  no  means  flattering 
to  the  individual  presented  to  the  reader.  Let  us  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  some  miserable  mortal,  who  is  utterly  devoid  of  any  per- 
sonal good  quality  to  recommend  him,  makes  his  advent  on  the 
stage  of  action,  and  demands  credit.  Are  there  circumstances 
under  which  he  can  obtain  it?  Most  certainly.  Though  he  pos- 
sesses neither  energy,  morality  nor  business  capacity,  yet  if  he 
owns  a  farm  worth  $3,000,  which  he  is  willing  to  mortgage  as  secur- 
ity for  $1,500  that  he  desires  to  borrow,  he  will  be  considered  as 
eminently  deserving  of  credit.  He  is  neither  industrious,  punctual, 
capable,  nor  virtuous;  but  he  owns  a  farm  clear  of  debt  worth 
$2,000  and  verily  he  shall  raise  the  $1,500! 

Personal  credit  is  one  thing;  real  credit  is  another  and  a  very 
different  thing.  In  one  case,  it  is  the  man  who  receives  credit;  in 
the  other,  it  is  the  property,  the  thing.  Personal  credit  is  in  the 
nature  of  partnership;  real  credit  is  in  the  nature  of  a  sale,  with  a 
reserved  right  of  repurchase  under  conditions.  By  personal  credit, 
two  men  or  more  are  brought  into  voluntary  mutual  relations;  by  real 
credit,  a  certain  amount  of  fixed  property  is  transformed,  under 
certain  conditions  and  for  a  certain  time,  into  circulating  medium; 
that  is,  a  certain  amount  of  engaged  capital  is  temporarily  trans- 
formed into  disengaged  capital. 

THE  USURY   LAWS. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  absurdity  of  the  usury  laws. 
But  let  that  pass;  we  will  speak  of  it  again. 

A  young  man  goes  to  a  capitalist,  saying:  "If  you  will  lend  rae 
$100,  I  will  go  into  a  certain  business,  and  make  $1,500  in  the  course 
of  the  present  year;  and  my  profits  will  thus  enable  me  to  pay  you 
back  the  money  you  lend  me,  and  another  $100  for  the  use  of  it.  In- 
deed it  is  nothing  more  than  fair  that  I  should  pay  you  as  much  as 
I  offer;  for,  after  all,  there  is  a  great  risk  in  the  business,  and  you 
do  me  a  greater  favor  than  I  do  you."  The  capitalist  answers:  "I 
cannot  lend  you  money  on  such  terms;  for  the  transaction  would 
be  illegal;  nevertheless,  I  am  willing  to  help  you  all  I  can,  if  I  can 
devise  a  way.  What  do  you  say  to  my  buying  such  rooms  and 
machinery  as  you  require,  and  letting  them  to  you  on  the  terms  you 
propose?  For,  though  I  cannot  charge  more  than  6  per  cent  on 
money  loaned,  I  can  let  buildings,  whose  total  value  is  only  $100,  at 
a  rate  of  $1(X)  per  annum,  and  violate  no  law.  Or,  again,  as  I  shall 
be  obliged  to  furnish  you  with  the  raw  material  consiimed  in  your 


62  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

business,  what  do  you  say  to  our  entering  into  a  partnership,  so  ar- 
ranging the  terms  of  agreement  that  the  profits  will  be  divided  in 
fact,  as  they  would  be  in  the  case  that  I  loaned  you  SlOO  at  100  per  cent 
interest  per  annum?"  The  young  man  will  probably  permit  the  cap- 
italist to  arrange  the  transaction  in  any  form  he  pleases,  provided 
the  money  is  actually  forthcoming.  If  the  usury  laws  speak  any 
intelligible  language  to  the  capitalist,  it  is  this:  "The  legislature 
does  not  intend  that  you  shall  lend  money  to  any  young  man  to 
help  in  his  business,  where  the  insurance  upon  the  money  you  trust 
in  his  hands,  and  which  is  subjected  to  the  risk  of  his  transactions, 
amounts  to  more  than  6  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  amount  loaned." 
And,  in  this  speech,  the  deep  wisdom  of  the  legislature  is  mani- 
fested! Why  six,  rather  than  five  or  seven?  Why  any  restriction 
at  all? 

Now  for  the  other  side  (for  we  have  thus'far  spoken  of  the 
usury  laws  as  they  bear  on  mere  personal  credit):  If  a  man  bor- 
rows $1,500  on  the  mortgage  of  a  farm,  worth,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  creditor  himself,  $2,000,  why  should  he  pay  6  per  cent  interest  on 
the  money  borrowed?  What  does  this  interest  cover?  Insurance? 
Not  at  all;  for  the  money  is  perfectly  safe,  as  the  security  given  is 
confessedly  ample;  the  insurance  is  0.  Does  the  interest  cover  the 
damage  which  the  creditor  suffers  by  being  kept  out  of  his  money 
for  the  time  specified  in  the  contract?  This  cannot  be  the  fact — for 
the  damage  is  also  0— since  a  man  who  lends  out  money  at  interest, 
on  perfect  security,  counts  the  total  amount  of  interest  as  clear 
gain,  and  would  much  prefer  letting  the  money  at  }>i  per  cent  to 
permitting  it  to  remain  idle.  The  rate  of  interest  upon  money  lent 
on  perfect  security  is  commensurate,  not  with  the  risk  the  creditor 
runs  of  losing  his  money— for  that  risk  is  0;  not  to  the  inconven- 
ience to  which  the  creditor  is  put  by  letting  the  money  go  out  of  his 
hands — for  that  inconvenience  is  also  0,*  since  the  creditor  lends 
only  such  money  as  he  himself  does  not  wish  to  use;  but  it  is  com- 
mensurate with  the  distress  of  the  borrower.  One  per  cent  per 
annum  interest  on  money  lent  on  perfect  security  is,  therefore,  too 
high  a  rate;  and  all  levying  of  interest-money  on  perfect  security 
is  profoundedly  immoral, +  since  such  interest-money  is  the  fruit  of 
the  speculation  of  one  man  upon  the  misfortune  of  another.  Yet 
the  legislature  permits  one  citizen  to  speculate  upon  the  misfortune 
of  another  to  the  amount  of  six-hundredths  per  annum  of  the  ex- 
tent to  which  he  gets  him  into  his  power!  This  is  the  morality  of 
the  usury  laws  in  their  bearing  on  real  credit. 


*If,  liow(!v«!r,  tlio  incoiivunicnco  is  iinytliiiip,  llio  lender  ouRlit  to  be 
Indemnilied;  but  such  iiuU-mriificiitioii  is  nut  proporly  inturust. 

tPerhaps,  we  ought  rather  to  say,  "would  be  profoundly  Immoral  in  a 
morf  perfect  social  order."  Wo  suppose  tliat  must  l)o  considered  ri^lit, 
iti  our  present  chaotic  state,  wliicli  is  best  on  t  lie  wljolo,  or  wliich— tailing 
men's  passion  as  tliey  are— Is  unavoidable. 


CREDIT.  63 

LEGITIMATE  CREDIT. 

All  the  questions  connected  with  credit,  the  usury  laws,  etc., 
may  be  forever  set  at  rest  by  the  establishment  of  Mutual  Banks. 
Whoever  goes  to  the  mutual  bank,  and  offers  real  property  in 
pledge,  may  always  obtain  money;  for  the  Mutual  Bank  can  issue 
money  to  any  extent;  and  that  money  will  always  be  good,  since  it 
is  all  of  it  based  on  actual  property,  that  may  be  sold  under  the 
hammer.  The  interest  will  always  be  at  a  less  rate  than  1  per  cent 
per  annum,  since  it  covers,  not  the  insurance  of  the  money  loaned, 
there  being  no  such  insurance  required,  as  the  risk  is  0;  since  it 
covers,  not  the  damage  which  is  done  the'bank  by  keeping  it  out  of 
its  money,  as  that  damage  is  also  0,  the  bank  having  always  an  un- 
limited supply  remaining  on  hand,  so  long  as  it  has  a  printing-press 
and  paper;  since  it  covers,  plainly  and  simply,  the  mere  expenses  of 
the  institution— clerk-hire,  rent,  paper,  printing,  etc.  And  it  is  fair 
that  such  expenses  should  be  paid  under  the  form  of  a  rate  of  interest; 
for  thus  each  one  contributes  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  bank,  and 
in  the  precise  proportion  of  the  benefits  he  individually  experiences 
from  it.  Thus  the  interest,  properly  so  called,  is  0;  and  we  venture 
to  predict  that  the  Mutual  Bank  will  one  day  give  all  the  real 
credit  that  will  be  given;  for  since  this  bank  will  give  such  at  0  per 
cent  interest  per  annum,  it  will  be  difficult  for  other  institutions  to 
compete  with  it  for  any  length  of  time.  The  day  is  coming  when 
everything  that  is  bought  will  be  paid  for  on  the  spot,  and  in  mu- 
tual money;  when  all  payments  will  be  made,  all  wages  settled,  on 
the  spot.  The  Mutual  Bank  will  never,  of  course,  give  personal 
credit;  for  it  can  issue  bills  only  on  real  credit.  It  cannot  enter 
into  partnership  with  anybody;  for,  if  it  issues  bills  where  there  is 
no  real  guarantee  furnished  for  their  repayment,  it  vitiates  the  cur- 
rency, and  renders  itself  unstable.  Personal  credit  will  one  day  be 
given  by  individuals  only;  that  is,  capitalists  will  one  day  enter 
.into  partnership  with  enterprising  and  capable  men  who  are  with- 
out capital,  and  the  profits  will  bo  divided  between  the  parties  ac- 
cording as  their  contract  of  partnership  may  run.  Whoever,  in  the 
times  of  the  Mutual  Bank,  has  property,  will  have  money  also;  and 
the  laborer  who  has  no  property  will  find  it  very  easy  to  get  it;  for 
every  capitalist  will  seek  to  secure  him  as  a  partner.  All  services 
will  then  be  paid  for  in  ready  money;  and  the  demand  for  labor  will 
be  increased  three,  four  and  five  fold. 

As  for  credit  of  the  kind  that  is  idolized  by  the  present  genera- 
tion, credit  which  organizes  society  on  feudal  principles,  confused 
credit,  the  Mutual  Bank  will  obliterate  it  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Money  furnished  under  the  existing  system  to  individuals 
and  corporations  is  principally  a[)plied  to  speculative  purposes,  ad- 
vantageous, perhaps,  to  those;  individuals  and  corporations,  if  the 
speculations  answer;  but  generally  disadvantageous  to  the  com- 
munity, whether  they  answer  or  whether  they  fail.  If  they  answer, 
they  generally  end  in  a  monopoly  of  trade,  great  or  small,  and  in 


64  MUTUAL   BANKING. 

consequent  high  prices;  if  they  fail,  the  loss  falls  on  the  community. 
Under  the  existing  system,  there  is  little  safety  for  the  merchant. 
The  utmost  degree  of  caution  practicable  in  business  has  never 
yet  enabled  a  company  or  individual  to  proceed  for  any  longtime 
without  incurring  bad  debts. 

The  existing  organization  of  credit  is  the  daughter  of  hard 
money,  begotten  upon  it  incestuously  by  that  insufficiency  of  circu- 
lating medium  which  results  from  laws  making  specie  the  sole  legal 
tender.  The  immediate  consequences  of  confused  credit  are  want 
of  confidence,  loss  of  time,  commercial  frauds,  fruitless  and  re- 
peated applications  for  payment,  complicated  with  irregular  and 
ruinous  expenses.  The  ultimate  consequences  are  compositions, 
bad  debts,  expensive  accommodation-loans,  lawsuits,  insolvency, 
bankruptcy,  separation  of  classes,  hostility,  hunger,  extravagance, 
distress,  riots,  civil  war,  and,  finally,  revolution.  The  natural  con- 
sequences of  mutual  banking  are,  first  of  all,  the  creation  of  order, 
and  the  definite  establishment  of  due  organization  in  the  social 
body;  and,  ultimately,  the  cure  of  ail  the  evils  which  flow  from  the 
present  incoherence  and  disruption  in  the  relations  of  production 
and  commerce. 


CONCLUSION. 

The  expensive  character  of  the  existing  circulating  medium  is 
evident  on  the  most  superficial  inspection.  The  assessor's  valua- 
tion for  1830,  of  the  total  taxable  property  then  existing  in  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Massachusetts,  was  $208,360,407;  the  valuation  for 
1840  was  $299,878,329.  We  may  safely  estimate,  that  ihe  valuation 
for  1850  will  be  to  that  of  1840  as  that  of  1840  was  to  that  of  1830. 
Performing  these  calculations,  we  find  that  the  total  amount  of  tax- 
able property  possessed  by  the  people  of  Massachusetts  in  the  pres- 
ent year,  is  about  $431,588,724.*  The  excess  of  this  last  valuation 
over  that  of  1840— i.  e.,  $131,710,395— is  the  net  gain,  the  clear  profit, 
of  the  total  labor  of  the  people  in  the  ten  years  under  consideration. 
The  average  profit  for  each  year  was,  therefore,  $13,171,039.  In  the 
year  1849,  the  banks  of  Massachusetts  paid  their  tax  to  the  state, 
their  losses  on  bad  debts,  their  rents,  their  officers  and  lawyers, 
and  then  made  dividends  of  more  than  seven  per  cent  on  their 
capitals.  The  people,  must,  therefore,  in  the  course  of  that  year 
(1840)  have  paid  interest  money  to  the  banks  to  the  amount  of  at 
least  10  per  cent  on  the  whole  banking  capital  of  the  state.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  1848,  the  banking  capital  in  the  state  amounted  to 
$32,683,330.  Ten  per  cent  on  $32,683,330  is  $3,268,333— the  amount  the 
people  paid,  during  the  year  1849,  for  the  use  of  a  currency.  If  the 
material  of  the  currency  had  been  iron,  $3,268,333  would  probably 
have  paid  the  expenses  of  the  carting  and  counting.  What,  then,  is 
the  utility  of  our  present  paper  money?  We  have  estimated  the 
total  profits  of  the  whole  labor  of  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth 
for  the  year  1849,  at  $13,171,039.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  total 
profits  of  nearly  one-fourth  part  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
state  were  devoted  to  the  single  purpose  of  paying  for  the  use  of  a 
currency. 

Mutual  Banks  would  have  furnished  a  much  better  currency  at 
less  than  one-tenth  of  this  expense. 

The  bills  of  a  Mutual  Bank  cannot  reasonably  pretend  to  be 
standards  or  measures  of  value;  and  this  fact  is  put  forth  as  a 
recommendation  of  the  mutual  money  to  favorable  consideration. 
The  silver  dollar  is  the  measure  and  standard  of  value;  and  the 
bills  of  a  Mutual  Bank  recognize  the  prior  existence  of  this  meas- 
ure, since  they  are  receivable  in  lieu  of  so  many  silver  dollars.  The 
bill  of  a  Mutual  Bank  is  not  a  measure  of  value,  since  it  is  itself 
measured  and  determined  in  value  by  the  silver  dollar.  If  the 
dollar  rises  in  value,  the  bill  of  the  Mutual  Bank  rises  also, 
since    it    is   receivable    in    lieu    of     a     silver    dollar.    The     bills 


♦According  to  tlie  report  of  the  Valuation   Coinnilttee,  it  appears  to 
have  been  (In  the  year  1850)  $600,000,000— a  much  larger  sum. 


66  MUTUAL   BANKI:NG. 

of  a  Mutual  Bank  are  not  measures  of  value,  but  mere  instruments 
of  exchange;  and,  as  the  value  of  the  mutual  money  is  determined, 
not  by  the  demand  and  supply  of  the  mutual  money,  but  by  the  de- 
mand and  supply  of  the  precious  metals,  the  Mutual  Bank  may  is- 
sue bills  to  any  extent,  and  those  bills  will  not  be  liable  to  any  de- 
preciation from  excess  of  supply.  And  for  like  reasons,  the  mutual 
money  will  not  be  liable  to  rise  in  value  if  it  happens  at  any  time  to 
be  scarce  in  the  market.  The  issues  of  said  mutual  money  are 
therefore  susceptible  of  any  contraction  or  expansion  which  may  be 
necessary  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  community;  and  such  contrac- 
tion or  expansion  cannot,  by  any  possibility,  be  attended  with  any 
evil  consequence  whatever;  for  the  silver  dollar,  which  is  the 
standard  of  value,  will  remain  throughout  at  the  natural  valuation 
determined  for  it  by  the  general  demand  and  supply  of  gold  and 
silver  throughout  the  whole  world. 

In  order  that  the  silver  dollar,  which  is  the  standard  and  meas- 
ure of  value,  may  not  be  driven  out  of  circulation,  the  Mutual 
Bank— which  has  no  vault  for  specie  other  than  the  pockets  of  the 
people — ought  to  issue  no  bill  of  a  denomination  less  than  tive 
dollars. 

THE   KXD. 


No.  lo.  COMMONWEALTH  LIBRARY.         April,  1S96. 

Monthly,  $1  yearly.  Commonweallh  Co.,  28  Lafayette  Place,  N.Y. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  YOUNG. 

By  peter  KROPOTKIN. 

New  Edition.     Translated  by  H.  M.  Hyndman. 

It  is  to  the  young  that  I  wish  to  address  myself 
to-day.  Let  the  old — I  mean,  of  course,  the  old  in 
heart  and  mind — lay  the  pamphlet  down,  therefore, 
without  tiring  their  eyes  in  reading  what  will  tell 
them  nothing. 

I  assume  that  you  are  about  eighteen  or  twenty 
years  of  age ;  that  you  have  finished  your  appren- 
ticeship or  your  studies;  that  you  are  just  entering 
on  life.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  have  a  mind 
free  from  the  superstition  which  your  teachers  have 
sought  to  force  upon  you ;  that  you  do  not  fear  the 
devil,  and  that  you  do  not  go  to  hear  ministers  rant. 
More,  that  you  are  not  one  of  the  fops,  sad  products 
of  a  society  in  decay,  who  display  their  well-cut 
trousers  and  their  monkey  faces  in  the  park,  and 
who  even  at  their  early  age  have  only  an  insatiable 
longing  for  pleasure  at  any  price.  ...  I  assume, 
on  the  contrary,  that  you  have  a  warm  heart,  and 
for  this  reason  I  talk  to  you. 

A  first  question,  I  know,  occurs  to  you — you  have 
often  asked  yourself,  "  What  am  I  going  to  be  ?" 
In  fact,  when  a  man  is  young  he  understands  that 
after  having  studied  a  trade  or  a  science  for  several 
years — at  the  cost  of  society,  mark — he  has  not  done 
this  in  order  that  he  should  make  use  of  his  acquire- 
ments as  instruments  of  plunder  for  his  own  gain, 
and  he  must  be  depraved  indeed,  and  utterl}^  cank- 
ered by  vice,  who  has  not  dreamed  that  one  day  he 
would  apply  his  intelligence,  his  abilities,  his  knowl- 
edge, to  help  on  the  enfranchisement  of  those  who 
to-day  grovel  in  misery  and  in  ignorance. 

You  are  one  of  those  who  have  had  such  a  vision. 

Price,  Five  Cents. 


2  An  Appeal  to  the    Young. 

are  you  not  ?  Very  well,  let  us  see  what  you  must 
do  to  make  your  dream  a  reality. 

I  do  not  know  in  what  rank  3^ou  were  born.  Per- 
haps, favored  by  fortune,  you  have  turned  your  atten- 
tion to  the  study  of  science ;  you  are  to  be  a  doctor,  a 
lawyer,  a  man  of  letters,  or  a  scientific  man ;  a  wide 
field  opens  before  you ;  you  enter  upon  life  with  ex- 
tensive knowledge,  a  trained  intelligence.  Or,  on  the 
other  hand,  you  are,  perhaps,  only  an  honest  artisan, 
whose  knowledge  of  science  is  limited  by  the  little 
you  have  learned  at  school ;  but  you  have  had  the 
advantage  of  learning  at  first  hand  what  a  life  of  ex- 
hausting toil  is  the  lot  of  the  worker  of  our  time. 

I  stop  at  the  first  supposition,  to  return  afterward 
to  the  second ;  I  assume,  then,  that  you  have  received 
a  scientific  education.  Let  us  suppose  you  intend  to 
be  a  doctor. 

To-morrow  a  man  in  corduroys  will  come  to  take 
you  to  see  a  sick  woman.  He  will  lead  3'ou  into  one 
of  those  alle3^s  where  the  opposite  neighbors  can 
almost  shake  hands  over  the  heads  of  the  passers-by; 
you  ascend  into  a  foul  atmosphere  by  the  flickering 
light  of  a  little  ill-trimmed  lamp;  you  climb  two, 
three,  four,  five  flights  of  filthy  stairs,  and  in  a  dark, 
cold  room  you  find  the  sick  woman,  lying  on  a  pallet 
covered  with  dirty  rags.  Pale,  livid  children,  shiver- 
ing under  their  scanty  garments,  gaze  at  you  with 
their  big  eyes  wide  open.  The  husband  has  worked 
all  his  life  twelve  or  thirteen  hours  a  day  at  no 
matter  what;  now  he  has  been  out  of  work  for  three 
months.  To  be  out  of  employ  is  not  rare  in  his  trade ; 
it  happens  every  year,  periodically.  But,  formerly, 
when  he  was  out  of  work  his  wife  went  out  as  a 
charwoman — perhaps  to  wash  your  shirts — at  the 
rate  of  fifteen-pence  a  day ;  now  she  has  been  bed- 
ridden for  two  months,  and  misery  glares  upon  the 
family  in  all  its  squalid  hideousness. 

What  will  you  prescribe  for  the  sick  woman,  doc- 
tor ?  you  who  have  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  cause 


All  Appeal  to  the    Young.  3 

of  her  illness  is  general  anaemia,  want  of  good  food, 
lack  of  fresh  air  ?  Say  a  good  beefsteak  every  day, 
a  little  exercise  in  the  country,  a  dry  and  well-venti- 
lated bedroom  ?  What  irony  !  If  she  could  have 
afforded  it  this  would  have  been  done  long  since 
without  waiting  for  your  advice  ! 

If  you  have  a  good  heart,  a  frank  address,  an  hon- 
est face,  the  family  will  tell  you  many  things.  The}'- 
will  tell  you  that  the  woman  on  the  other  side  of  the 
partition,  who  coughs  a  cough  which  tears  your 
heart,  is  a  poor  ironer ;  that  a  flight  of  stairs  lower 
down  all  the  children  have  the  fever  ;  that  the  washer- 
woman who  occupies  the  ground  floor  will  not  live 
to  see  the  spring;  and  that  in  the  house  next  door 
things  are  still  worse. 

What  will  you  say  to  these  sick  people  ?  Recom- 
mend them  generous  diet,  change  of  air,  less  exhaust- 
ing toil?  .  .  .  You  only  wish  you  could,  but  you 
dare  not,  and  you  go  out  heartbroken  with  a  curse 
on  your  lips. 

The  next  day,  as  you  still  brood  over  the  fate  of 
the  dwellers  in  this  dog-hutch,  your  partner  tells  you 
that  yesterday  a  footman  came  to  take  him,  this  time 
in  a  carriage.  It  was  for  the  owner  of  a  fine  house, 
for  a  lady  worn  out  with  sleepless  nights,  who  devotes 
all  her  life  to  dressing,  visits,  balls,  and  squabbles 
with  a  stupid  husband.  Your  friend  has  prescribed 
for  her  a  less  preposterous  habit  of  life,  a  less  heating 
diet,  walks  in  the  fresh  air,  and  even  temperament, 
and,  in  order  to  make  up  in  some  measure  for  the 
want  of  useful  work,  a  little  gymnastic  exercise  in 
her  bedroom. 

The  one  is  dvino;  because  she  has  never  had  enough 
food  nor  rest  in  her  whole  life ;  the  other  pines  be- 
cause she  has  never  known  what  work  is  since  she 
was  born. 

If  you  are  one  of  those  miserable  natures  who  adapt 
themselves  to  anything,  who  at  the  sight  of  the  most 
revolting  spectacles  console  themselves  with  a  gentle 


4  A7i  Appeal  to  the   Yojing. 

sigh  and  a  glass  of  sherry,  then  you  will  gradually 
become  used  to  these  contrasts,  and,  the  nature  of 
the  beast  favoring  your  endeavors,  your  sole  idea 
will  be  to  lift  yourself  into  the  ranks  of  the  pleasure- 
seekers,  so  that  you  may  never  again  find  yourself 
among  the  wretched.  But  if  you  are  a  man,  if  every 
sentiment  is  translated  in  your  case  into  an  action  of 
the  will ;  if,  in  you,  the  beast  has  not  crushed  the  in- 
telligent being,  then  you  will  return  home  one  day 
saying  to  yourself,  "No,  it  is  unjust;  this  must  not 
go  on  so  any  longer.  It  is  not  enough  to  cure  dis- 
eases: we  must  prevent  them.  A  little  good  living 
and  intellectual  development  would  score  off  our  lists 
half  the  patients  and  half  the  diseases.  Throw  physic 
to  the  dogs  ?  Air,  good  diet,  less  crushing  toil — that 
is  how  we  must  begin.  Without  this,  the  whole 
profession  of  a  doctor  is  nothing  but  trickery  and 
humbug." 

That  very  day  you  will  understand  socialism.  You 
will  wish  to  know  it  thoroughly,  and  if  altruism  is 
not  a  word  devoid  of  significance  for  you,  if  you  apply 
to  the  study  of  the  social  question  the  rigid  induction 
of  the  natural  philosopher,  you  will  end  by  finding 
yourself  in  our  ranks,  and  you  will  work,  as  we  work, 
to  bring  about  the  social  revolution. 

But  perhaps  you  will  say,  "  Mere  practical  business 
may  go  to  the  devil !  I  will  devote  myself  to  pure 
science;  I  will  be  an  astronomer,  a  physiologist,  a 
chemist.  Such  work  as  that  always  bears  fruit,  if 
only  for  future  generations." 

Let  us  first  try  to  understand  what  you  seek  in  de- 
voting yourself  to  science.  Is  it  only  the  pleasure — 
doubtless  immense — which  we  derive  from  the  study 
of  nature  and  the  exercise  of  our  intellectual  facul- 
ties? In  that  case  I  ask  you  in  what  respect  does 
the  philosopher,  who  pursues  science  in  order  that 
he  may  pass  life  pleasantly  to  himself,  difTer  from 
the  drunkard,  who  only  seeks  the  immediate  gratifi- 
cation that  gin  affords  him  ?     The  philosopher  has, 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  5 

past  all  question,  chosen  his  enjoyment  more  wisely, 
since  it  affords  him  a  pleasure  far  deeper  and  more 
lasting  than  that  of  the  toper.  But  that  is  all ! 
Both  one  and  the  other  have  the  same  selfish  end  in 
view — personal  gratification. 

But,  no ;  you  have  no  wish  to  lead  this  selfish  life. 
By  working  at  science  you  mean  to  work  for  hu- 
manity, and  that  is  the  idea  which  will  guide  you  in 
your  investigations. 

A  charming  illusion  !  Which  of  us  has  not  hugged 
it  for  a  moment  when  giving  himself  up  for  the  first 
time  to  science  ? 

But,  then,  if  you  are  really  thinking  about  human- 
ity, if  you  look  to  the  good  of  mankind  in  your 
studies,  a  formidable  question  arises  before  you; 
for,  however  little  you  may  have  of  the  critical  spirit, 
you  must  at  once  note  that  in  our  society  of  to-day 
science  is  only  an  appendage  to  luxury  which  serves 
to  render  life  pleasanter  for  the  few,  but  remains 
absolutely  inaccessible  to  the  bulk  of  mankind. 

More  than  a  century  has  passed  since  science  laid 
down  sound  propositions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  uni- 
verse, but  how  many  have  mastered  them  or  possess 
the  really  scientific  spirit  of  criticism  ?  A  few  thou- 
sands at  the  outside,  who  are  lost  in  the  midst  of 
hundreds  of  millions  still  steeped  in  prejudices  and 
superstitions  worthy  of  savages,  who  are  conse- 
quently ever  ready  to  serve  as  puppets  for  religious 
impostors. 

Or,  to  go  a  step  further,  let  us  glance  at  what 
science  has  done  to  establish  rational  foundations 
for  physical  and  moral  health.  Science  tells  us  how 
we  ought  to  live  in  order  to  preserve  the  health  of 
our  own  bodies,  how  to  maintain  in  good  conditions 
of  existence  the  crowded  masses  of  our  population. 
But  does  not  all  the  vast  amount  of  work  done  in 
these  two  directions  remain  a  dead  letter  in  our 
books?  We  know  it  does.  And  why?  Because 
science  to-day  exists  only  for  a  handful  of  privileged 


6  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

persons;  because  social  inequality,  which  divides 
society  into  two  classes — the  wage-slaves  and  the 
grabbers  of  capital — renders  all  its  teachings  as  to 
the  conditions  of  a  rational  existence  only  the  bitter- 
est irony  to  nine-tenths  of  mankind. 

I  could  give  plenty  more  examples,  but  I  stop 
short:  only  go  outside  Faust's  closet,  whose  win- 
dows, darkened  by  dust,  scarce  let  the  light  of  heaven 
glimmer  on  its  shelves  full  of  books;  look  round, 
and  at  each  step  you  will  find  fresh  proof  in  support 
of  this  view. 

It  is  now  no  longer  a  question  of  accumulating 
scientific  truths  and  discoveries.  We  need  above 
everything  to  spread  the  truths  already  mastered  by 
science,  to  make  them  part  of  our  daily  life,  to  ren- 
der them  common  property.  We  have  to  order 
things  so  that  all,  so  that  the  mass  of  mankind,  may 
be  capable  of  understanding  and  applying  them ;  we 
have  to  make  science  no  longer  a  luxury,  but  the 
foundation  of  every  man's  life.  This  is  what  justice 
demands. 

I  go  further :  I  say  that  the  interests  of  science 
itself  lie  in  the  same  direction.  Science  only  makes 
real  progress  when  a  new  truth  finds  a  soil  already 
prepared  to  receive  it.  The  theory  of  the  mechani- 
cal origin  of  heat,  though  enunciated  in  the  last  cen- 
tury in  the  same  terms  that  Hirn  and  Clausius 
formulate  it  to-day,  remained  for  eighty  years  buried 
in  the  Academical  Records  until  such  time  as  knowl- 
edge of  physics  had  spread  widely  enough  to  create 
a  public  capable  of  accepting  it.  Three  generations 
had  to  go  by  before  the  ideas  of  Erasmus  Darwin  on 
the  variation  of  species  could  be  favorably  received 
from  his  grandson  and  admitted  by  academical  phi- 
losophers, and  not  without  pressure  from  public 
opinion  even  then.  The  philosopher,  like  the  poet 
or  artist,  is  always  the  product  of  the  society  in 
which  he  moves  and  teaches. 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  y 

But,  if  you  are  imbued  with  these  ideas,  you  will 
understand  that  it  is  above  all  important  to  bring 
about  a  radical  chanofe  in  this  state  of  affairs  which 
to-day  condemns  the  philosopher  to  be  crammed  with 
scientific  truths,  and  almost  the  whole  of  the  rest  of 
human  beings  to  remain  what  they  were  five  or  ten 
centuries  ago ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  state  of  slaves 
and  machines,  incapable  of  mastering  established 
truths.  And  the  day  when  you  are  imbued  with 
wide,  deep,  humane,  and  profoundly  scientific  truth, 
that  day  you  will  lose  your  taste  for  science  only. 
You  will  set  to  work  to  find  out  the  means  to  effect 
this  transformation,  and  if  you  bring  to  your  investi- 
gations the  impartiality  which  has  guided  you  in 
5'-our  scientific  researches  you  will  of  necessity  adopt 
the  cause  of  socialism ;  you  will  make  an  end  of  soph- 
isms and  you  will  come  among  us.  Weary  of  working 
to  procure  pleasures  for  this  small  group,  which 
already  has  a  large  share  of  them,  you  will  place 
your  information  and  devotion  at  the  service  of  the 
oppressed. 

And  be  sure  that,  the  feeling  of  duty  accomplished 
and  of  a  real  accord  established  between  your  senti- 
ments and  your  actions,  you  will  then  find  powers  in 
yourself  of  whose  existence  you  never  even  dreamed. 
When,  too,  one  day — it  is  not  so  far  distant  in  any 
case,  saving  the  presence  of  our  professors — when, 
one  day,  I  say,  the  change  for  which  you  are  working 
shall  have  been  brought  about,  then,  deriving  new 
forces  from  collective  scientific  work,  and  from  the 
powerful  help  of  armies  of  laborers  who  will  come  to 
place  their  energies  at  its  service,  science  will  take  a 
new  bound  forward,  in  comparison  with  which  the 
slow  progress  of  to-day  will  appear  the  simple  exer- 
cises of  tyros. 

Then  you  will  enjoy  science;  that  pleasure  will  be 
a  pleasure  for  all. 

If  you  have  finished  reading  law  and  are  about  to 
be  called  to  the  bar,  perhaps  you,  too,  have  some  illu- 


8  Aji  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

sions  as  to  your  future  activity — I  assume  that  you 
are  one  of  the  nobler  spirits,  that  you  know  what 
altruism  means.  Perhaps  you  think,  "To  devote  my 
life  to  an  unceasing  and  vigorous  struggle  against 
all  injustice!  To  apply  my  whole  faculties  to  bring- 
ing about  the  triumph  of  law,  the  public  expression 
of  supreme  justice — can  any  career  be  nobler  ? "  You 
begin  the  real  work  of  life  confident  in  yourself  and 
in  the  profession  you  have  chosen. 

Very  well:  let  us  turn  to  any  page  of  the  Law 
Reports  and  see  what  actual  life  will  tell  you. 

Here  we  have  a  rich  landowner ;  he  demands  the 
eviction  of  a  cotter  tenant  who  has  not  paid  his  rent. 
From  a  legal  point  of  view  the  case  is  beyond  dispute : 
since  the  poor  farmer  cannot  pay,  out  he  must  go. 
But  if  we  look  into  the  facts  we  shall  learn  something 
like  this:  The  landlord  has  squandered  his  rents 
persistently  in  rollicking  pleasure;  the  tenant  has 
worked  hard  all  day  and  ever}'  day.  The  landlord 
has  done  nothing  to  improve  his  estate.  Neverthe- 
less its  value  has  trebled  in  fifty  years,  owing  to  a 
rise  in  price  of  land  due  to  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
way, to  the  making  of  new  highroads,  to  the  draining 
of  a  marsh,  to  the  enclosure  and  cultivation  of  waste 
lands.  But  the  tenant  who  has  contributed  largely 
toward  this  increase  has  ruined  himself;  he  fell  into 
the  hands  of  usurers,  and,  head  over  ears  in  debt,  he 
can  no  longer  pay  the  landlord.  The  law,  always  on 
the  side  of  property,  is  quite  clear :  the  landlord  is  in 
the  right.  I3ut  you,  whose  feeling  of  justice  has  not 
yet  been  stifled  by  legal  fictions,  what  will  you  do? 
Will  you  contend  that  the  farmer  ought  to  be  turned 
out  upon  the  high  roads  ? — for  that  is  what  the  law 
ordains — or  will  you  urge  that  the  landlord  should  pay 
back  to  the  fanner  the  whole  of  the  increase  or  value 
in  his  property  which  is  due  to  the  farmer's  labor? — 
this  is  what  equity  decrees.  Which  side  will  you 
take?  For  the  law  and  against  justice  or  for  justice 
and  against  the  law  ? 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  9 

Or,  when  workmen  have  gone  out  on  strike  against 
a  master  without  notice,  whicli  side  will  you  take? 
The  side  of  tlie  law,  that  is  to  say,  the  part  of  the 
master  who,  taking  advantage  of  a  period  of  crisis, 
has  made  outrageous  profits,  or  against  the  law,  but 
on  the  side  of  the  workers  who  received  during  the 
whole  time  only  fifty  cents  a  day  as  wages,  and  saw 
their  wives  and  children  fade  away  before  their  eyes? 
Will  you  stand  up  for  that  piece  of  chicanery  which 
consists  in  affirming  "freedom  of  contract"?  Or 
will  you  uphold  equity,  according  to  which  a  contract 
entered  into  between  a  man  who  has  dined  well  and 
the  man  who  sells  his  labor  for  bare  subsistence,  be- 
tween the  strong  and  the  weak,  is  not  a  contract 
at  all? 

Take  another  case :  A  man  was  loitering  near  a 
butcher's  shop.  He  stole  a  beefsteak  and  ran  off 
with  it.  Arrested  and  questioned,  it  turns  out  that 
he  is  an  artisan  out  of  work,  and  that  he  and  his 
family  have  had  nothing  to  eat  for  four  days.  The 
butcher  is  asked  to  let  the  man  off,  but  he  is  all  for 
the  triumph  of  justice!  He  prosecutes,  and  the  man 
is  sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment.  Blind 
Themis  so  wills  it !  Does  not  your  conscience  revolt 
against  the  law  and  against  society  when  you  hear 
similar  judgments  pronounced  every  day? 

Or,  again,  will  you  call  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
law  against  this  man  who,  badly  brought  up  and  ill- 
used  from  his  childhood,  has  arrived  at  man's  estate 
without  having  heard  one  sympathetic  word,  and 
completes  his  career  by  murdering  his  neighbor  in 
order  to  rob  him  of  twenty-five  cents?  Will  you  de- 
mand his  execution,  or — worse  still — that  he  should 
be  imprisoned  for  twenty  years,  when  you  know  very 
well  that  he  is  rather  a  madman  than  a  criminal, 
and,  in  any  case,  that  his  crime  is  the  fault  of  our 
entire  societv?  .  .  . 

If  you  reason  instead  of  repeating  what  is  taught 


lo  An  Appeal  to  the   Youtig. 

you ;  if  you  analyze  the  law  and  strip  off  those  cloudy 
fictions  with  which  it  has  been  draped  in  order  to 
conceal  its  real  origin,  which  is  the  right  of  the 
stronger,  and  its  substance,  which  has  ever  been  the 
consecration  of  all  the  tyrannies  handed  down  to 
mankind  through  its  long  and  bloody  history ;  when 
you  have  comprehended  this,  your  contempt  for  the 
law  will  be  profound  indeed.  You  will  understand 
that  to  remain  the  servant  of  the  written  law  is  to 
place  yourself  every  day  in  opposition  to  the  law  of 
conscience,  and  to  make  a  bargain  on  the  wrong 
side;  and,  since  this  struggle  cannot  go  on  forever, 
you  will  either  silence  your  conscience  and  become 
a  scoundrel,  or  you  will  break  with  tradition,  and 
vou  will  work  with  us  for  the  utter  destruction  of 
all  this  injustice,  economical,  social,  and  political. 

But  then  you  will  be  a  socialist,  you  will  be  a  rev- 
olutionist. 

And  you,  young  engineer,  you  who  dream  of  im- 
proving the  lot  of  the  workeis  by  the  application  of 
science  to  industry — what  a  sad  disappointment, 
what  terrible  disillusions  await  you !  You  devote 
the  useful  energy  of  your  mind  to  working  out  the 
scheme  of  a  railway  which,  running  along  the  brink 
of  precipices  and  burrowing  into  the  ver}'  heart  of 
mountains  of  granite,  will '  bind  together  two  coun- 
tries which  nature  has  separated.  But,  once  at  work, 
you  see  whole  regiments  of  workers  decimated  by 
privations  and  sickness  in  this  dark  tunnel ;  you  see 
others  of  them  returning  home,  carrying  with  them, 
may  be,  a  few  cents  and  the  undoubted  seeds  of  con- 
sumption ;  you  see  human  corpses — the  results  of  a 
groveling  greed — as  landmarks  along  each  yard  of 
your  road;  and,  when  the  railroad  is  finished,  you 
see,  lastly,  that  it  becomes  the  highway  for  the  artil- 
lery of  an  invading  army.     .     .    . 

You  have  given  up  the  prime  of  your  youth  to  per- 
fect  an   invention  which  will  facilitate  production. 


A71  Appeal  to  tJic   Young.  II 

and,  after  many  experiments,  many  sleepless  nights, 
you  are  at  length  master  of  this  valuable  discovery. 
You  make  use  of  it,  and  the  result  surpasses  your 
expectations.  Ten,  twenty  thousand  "hands"  are 
thrown  out  upon  the  streets !  Those  who  remain, 
most  of  them  children,  will  be  reduced  to  mere  ma- 
chines !  Three,  four,  ten  masters  will  make  their 
fortunes  and  will  drink  deep  on  the  strength  of  it.  .  .  . 
Is  this  your  dream  ? 

Finally,  you  study  recent  industrial  advances,  and 
you  see  that  the  seamstress  has  gained  nothing,  abso- 
lutely nothing,  by  the  invention  of  the  sewing  ma- 
chine; that  the  laborer  in  the  St.  Gothard  tunnel 
dies  of  anchylosis,  notwithstanding  diamond  drills ; 
that  the  mason  and  the  day  laborer  are  out  of  work 
just  as  before  at  the  foot  of  the  Giffard  lifts.  If  you 
discuss  social  problems  with  the  same  independence 
of  spirit  which  has  guided  you  in  your  mechanical 
investigations,  you  necessarily  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  under  the  domination  of  private  property  and 
wage-slavery,  every  new  invention,  far  from  increas- 
ing the  well-being  of  the  w^orker,  only  makes  his 
slavery  heavier,  his  labor  more  degrading,  the  periods 
of  slack  work  more  frequent,  the  crisis  sharper,  and 
that  the  man  who  already  has  every  conceivable 
pleasure  for  himself  is  the  only  one  who  profits  by  it. 

What  will  you  do  when  you  have  once  come  to  this 
conclusion  ?  Either  you  will  begin  by  silencing  your 
conscience  by  sophisms ;  then  one  fine  day  you  will 
bid  farewell  to  the  honest  dreams  of  your  youth  and 
you  will  try  to  obtain,  for  yourself,  what  commands 
pleasure  and  enjoyment — you  will  then  go  over  to 
the  camp  of  the  exploiters.  Or  if  you  have  a  tender 
heart  you  will  say  to  yourself,  "  No,  this  is  not  the 
time  for  inventions.  Let  us  work  first  to  transform 
the  domain  of  production.  When  private  property 
is  put  an  end  to,  then  each  new  advance  in  industry 
will  be  made  for  the  benefit  of  all  mankind ;  and  this 


12  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

mass  of  workers,  mere  machines  as  they  are  to-day, 
will  then  become  thinking  beings  who  apply  to  in- 
dustry their  intelligence,  strengthened  by  study  and 
skilled  in  inanual  labor,  and  thus  mechanical  prog- 
ress will  take  a  bound  forward  which  Vv^ill  carry  out  in 
fifty  years  what  now-a-days  we  cannot  even  dream  of." 

And  what  shall  I  say  to  the  schoolmaster — not  to 
the  man  who  looks  upon  his  profession  as  a  wearisome 
business,  but  to  him  who,  when  surrounded  by  a  joy- 
ous band  of  children,  feels  exhilarated  by  their  cheery 
looks  and  in  the  midst  of  their  happy  laughter,  to  him 
who  tries  to  plant  in  their  little  heads  those  ideas  of 
humanity  which  he  cherished  himself  when  he  was 
young. 

Often  I  see  that  you  are  sad,  and  I  know  what  it 
is  that  makes  you  knit  your  brows.  This  very  day, 
your  favorite  pupil,  who  is  not  very  well  up  in  Latin, 
it  is  true,  but  who  has  none  the  less  an  excellent 
heart,  recited  the  story  of  William  Tell  with  so  much 
vigor !  His  eyes  sparkled ;  he  seemed  to  wish  to  stab 
all  tyrants  there  and  then ;  he  gave  with  such  fire 
the  passionate  lines  of  Schiller: 

Before  the  slave  when  he  breaks  his  chain, 
Before  the  free  man  tremble  not. 

But  when  he  returned  home,  his  mother,  his  father, 
his  uncle,  sharply  rebuked  him  for  want  of  respect 
to  the  minister  or  the  rural  policeman ;  they  held 
forth  to  him  by  the  hour  on  "prudence,  respect  for 
authority,  submission  to  his  betters,"  till  he  put 
Schiller  aside  in  order  to  read  "  Self-Help." 

And  then  only  yesterday  you  were  told  that  your 
best  pupils  have  all  turned  out  badly.  One  does 
nothing  but  dream  of  becoming  an  officer;  another 
in  league  with  his  master  robs  the  workers  of  their 
slender  wages ;  and  you,  who  had  such  hopes  of 
these  young  people,  you  now  brood  over  the  sad 
contrast  between  your  ideal  and  life  as  it  is. 


An  Appeal  to  the   Yomig.  13 

You  still  brood  over  it  ?  Then  I  foresee  that  in  two 
^'ears  at  the  outside,  after  having  suffered  disappoint- 
ment after  disappointment,  you  will  lay  your  favorite 
authors  on  the  shelf,  and  you  will  end  by  saying  that 
Tell  was  no  doubt  a  very  honest  fellow,  but  after  all 
a  trifle  cracked ;  that  poetry  is  a  first-rate  thing  for 
the  fiieside,  especially  when  a  man  has  been  teach- 
ing the  rule-of-three  all  day  long,  but  still  poets  are 
always  in  the  clouds  and  their  views  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  life  of  to-dav,  nor  with  the  next  visit 
of  Ibo  inspector  of  schools.   .   .  . 

Or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  dreams  of  your  youth 
will  become  the  firm  convictions  of  your  mature  age. 
You  will  wish  to  have  wide,  human  education  for  all, 
in  school  and  out  of  school ;  and,  seeing  that  this  is 
impossible  in  existing  conditions,  you  will  attack  the 
very  foundations  of  bourgeois  society.  Then,  dis- 
charged as  you  will  be  by  the  education  department, 
you  will  leave  your  school  and  come  among  us  and  be 
of  us ;  you  will  tell  men  of  riper  years  but  of  smaller 
attainments  than  yourself  how  enticing  knowledge 
is,  what  mankind  ought  to  be,  nay,  what  we  could  be. 
You  will  come  and  work  with  socialists  for  the  com- 
plete transformation  of  the  existing  system,  will 
strive  side  by  side  with  us  to  attain  true  equality, 
real  fraternity,  never-ending  liberty  for  the  world. 

Lastly,  you,  young  artist,  sculptor,  painter,  poet, 
musician,  do  you  not  observe  that  the  sacred  fire 
which  inspired  your  predecessors  is  wanting  in  the 
men  of  to-day?  that  art  is  commonplace  and  medi- 
ocrity reigns  supreme  ? 

Could  it  be  otherwise  ?  The  delight  of  having  re- 
discovered  the  ancient  world,  of  having  bathed  afresh 
in  the  springs  of  nature  which  created  the  master- 
pieces of  the  Renaissance  no  longer  exists  for  the  art 
of  our  time ;  the  revolutionary  ideal  has  left  it  cold 
until  now,  and,  failing  an  ideal,  our  art  fancies  that 
it  has  found  one  in  realism  when  it  painfully  photo- 


14  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

graphs  in  colors  the  dewdrop  on  the  leaf  of  a  plant, 
imitates  the  muscle  in  the  leg  of  a  cow,  or  describes 
minutely  in  prose  and  in  verse  the  suffocating  filth  of 
a  sewer,  the  boudoir  of  a  prostitute  of  high  degree. 

"  But,  if  this  is  so,  what  is  to  be  done?"  you  say. 
If,  I  reply,  the  sacred  fire  that  you  say  you  possess 
is  nothing  better  than  a  smouldering  wick,  then  you 
will  go  on  doing  as  3^ou  have  done,  and  your  art  will 
speedily  degenerate  into  the  trade  of  decorator  of 
tradesmen's  shops,  of  a  purveyor  of  libretti  to  third- 
rate  operettas  and  tales  for  Christmas  annuals — 
most  of  you  are  already  running  down  that  grade 
with  a  fine  head  of  steam  on.  .  .  . 

But,  if  your  heart  really  beats  in  unison  with  that 
of  humanity,  if  like  a  true  poet  you  have  an  ear  for 
life,  then,  gazing  out  upon  this  sea  of  sorrow  whose 
tide  sweeps  up  around  you,  face  to  face  with  these 
people  dying  of  hunger,  in  the  presence  of  these 
corpses  piled  up  in  the  mines,  and  these  mutilated 
bodies  lying  in  heaps  on  the  barricades  looking  on 
these  long  lines  of  exiles  who  are  going  to  bury  them- 
selves  in  the  snows  of  Siberia  and  in  the  marshes  of 
tropical  islands,  in  full  view  of  this  desperate  battle 
which  is  being  fought,  amid  the  cries  of  pain  from 
the  conquered  and  the  orgies  of  the  victors,  of  heroism 
in  conflict  with  cowardice,  of  noble  determination 
face  to  face  with  contemptible  cunning — you  cannot 
remain  neutral:  you  will  come  and  take  the  side  of 
the  oppressed  because  you  know  that  the  beautiful, 
the  sublime,  the  spirit  of  life  itself  are  on  the  side  of 
those  who  fight  for  light,  for  humanity,  for  justice! 

You  stop  me  at  last ! 

"  What  the  devil !  "  3''ou  say.  "  If  abstract  science 
is  a  luxury  and  practice  of  medicine  mere  chicane ; 
if  law  spells  injustice,  and  mechanical  invention  is 
but  a  means  of  robbery;  if  the  school,  at  variance 
with  the  wisdom  of  the  '  practical  man,'  is  sure  to  be 
overcome,  and  art  without  the  revolutionary  idea  can 


An  Appeal  to  the   Voting.  1 5 

onlv    degenerate,    what    remains    for   me    to    do  - " 

Well,  I  will  tell  you : 

A  vast  and  most  enthralling  task ;  a  work  in  which 
your  actions  will  be  in  complete  harmony  with  your 
conscience,  an  undertaking  capable  of  rousing  the 
noblest  and  most  vigorous  natures. 

What  work  ? — I  will  now  tell  you. 

It  rests  with  you  either  to  palter  continually  with 
your  conscience,  and  in  the  end  to  say  one  fine  da}', 
"  Perish  humanity,  provided  I  can  have  plenty  of 
pleasures  and  enjoy  them  to  the  full,  so  long  as  the 
people  are  foolish  enough  to  let  me,"  Or,  once  more 
the  inevitable  alternative,  to  take  part  with  the  so- 
cialists and  work  with  them  for  the  complete  trans- 
formation of  society.  Such  is  the  irrefragable  con- 
sequence of  the  analysis  we  have  gone  through.  That 
is  the  logical  conclusion  which  every  intelligent  man 
must  perforce  arrive  at,  provided  that  he  reasons 
honestly  about  what  passes  around  him,  and  discards 
the  sophisms  which  his  bourgeois  education  and  the 
interested  views  of  those  about  him  whisper  in  his  ear. 

This  conclusion  once  arrived  at,  the  question, 
"What  is  to  be  done?"  is  naturally  put. 

The  answer  is  easv. 

Leave  this  environment  in  which  you  are  placed 
and  where  it  is  the  fashion  to  say  that  the  people 
are  nothing  but  a  lot  of  brutes,  come  among  these 
people — and  the  answer  will  come  of  itself. 

You  will  see  that  everywhere,  in  England  as  well 
as  in  France,  in  Germany  as  well  as  in  Italy,  in 
Russia  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  everywhere 
where  there  is  a  privileged  and  an  oppressed  class, 
there  is  a  tremendous  work  going  on  in  the  midst  of 
the  working-class,  whose  object  is  to  break  down  for- 
ever the  slavery  enforced  by  the  capitalist  feudality 
and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  society  established  on 
the  basis  of  justice  and  equality.  It  is  no  longer 
enough  for  the  man  of  the  people  to-day  to   pour 


1 6  Alt  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

forth  his  complaints  in  one  of  those  songs  whose 
melody  breaks  your  heart,  such  as  were  sung  by  the 
serfs  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  are  still  sung  by 
the  Slav  peasant ;  he  labors  with  his  fellow-toilers 
for  his  enfranchisement,  with  the  knowledge  of  what 
he  is  doing  and  against  every  obstacle  put  in  his  wa}-. 

His  thoughts  are  constantly  exercised  in  consider- 
ing what  should  be  done  in  order  that  life,  instead 
of  being  a  curse  for  three-fourths  of  mankind,  may 
be  a  real  enjoyment  for  all.  He  takes  up  the  hard- 
est problems  of  sociology  and  tries  to  solve  them  by 
his  good  sense,  his  spirit  of  observation,  his  hard 
experience.  In  order  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  others  as  miserable  as  himself,  he  seeks  to  form 
groups,  to  organize.  He  forms  societies,  maintained 
with  difficulty  by  small  contributions;  he  tries  to 
make  terms  with  his  fellows  beyond  the  frontier; 
and  he  prepares  the  days  when  wars  between  peo- 
ples shall  be  impossible  far  better  than  the  frothy 
philanthropists  who  now  potter  with  the  fad  of  uni- 
versal peace.  In  order  to  know  what  his  brothers 
are  doing,  to  have  a  closer  connection  with  them,  to 
elaborate  his  ideas  and  pass  them  round,  he  main- 
tains— but  at  the  price  of  what  privations,  what 
ceaseless  efforts ! — his  working  press.  .  .  . 

What  an  unending  series  of  efforts!  What  an 
incessant  struggle !  What  toil  perpetually  begun 
afresh;  sometimes  to  fill  up  the  gaps  occasioned  by 
desertion — the  result  of  weariness,  corruption,  pros- 
ecutions ;  sometimes  to  rally  the  broken  forces  deci- 
mated by  fusilades  and  cold-blooded  butchery!  at 
another  time  to  recommence  the  studies  sternly 
broken  off  by  wholesale  slaughter. 

The  newspapers  are  set  on  foot  by  men  who  have 
been  obliged  to  force  from  society  scraps  of  knowl- 
edge by  depriving  themselves  of  sleep  and  food  ;  the 
agitation  is  kept  up  by  halfpence  deducted  from  the 
amount  needed  to  get  the  barest  necessaries  of  life ; 


An  Appeal  to  the    Youjig.  17 

and  all  this  under  the  constant  dread  of  seeing  his 
family  reduced  to  the  most  fearful  misery,  as  soon 
as  the  master  learns  that  "his  workman,  his  slave, 
is  tainted  with  socialism." 

This  is  what  you  will  see  if  you  go  among  the 
people. 

And  in  this  endless  struggle  how  often  has  not 
the  toiler  vainly  asked  as  he  stumbled  under  the 
weiofht  of  his  burden: 

"  Where,  then,  are  these  young  people  who  have 
been  taught  at  our  expense  ?  these  youths  whom  we 
fed  and  clothed  while  they  studied?  Where  are 
those  for  whom,  our  backs  bent  double  beneath  our 
burdens  and  our  stomachs  empty,  we  have  built 
these  houses,  these  colleges,  these  lecture  rooms, 
these  museums?  Where  are  the  men  for  whose 
benefit  we,  with  our  pale,  worn  faces,  have  printed 
these  fine  books,  most  of  which  we  cannot  even 
read  ?  Where  are  they,  these  professors  who  claim 
to  possess  the  science  of  mankind,  and  for  whom 
humanity  itself  is  not  worth  a  rare  caterpillar? 
Where  are  the  men  who  are  ever  speaking  in  praise 
of  liberty,  and  never  think  to  champion  our  free- 
dom, trampled  as  it  is  each  day  beneath  their  feet? 
Where  are  they,  these  writers  and  poets,  these 
painters  and  sculptors  ?  Where,  in  a  word,  is  the 
whole  gang  of  hypocrites  who  speak  of  the  People 
with  tears  in  their  eyes,  but  who  never,  by  any 
chance,  find  themselves  among  us  helping  us  in  our 
laborious  work  ?  " 


i8  An  Appeal  to  the    Young. 

Where  are  they,  indeed  ?  Why,  some  are  taking 
their  ease  with  the  most  cowardly  indifference ; 
others,  the  majority,  despise  the  "  dirty  mob,"  and 
are  ready  to  pounce  upon  them  if  they  dare  touch 
one  of  t]icir  privileges. 

Now  and  then,  it  is  true,  a  young  man  comes 
among  us  who  dreams  of  drums  and  barricades,  and 
seeks  sensational  scenes;  but  he  deserts  the  cause 
of  the  people  as  soon  as  he  perceives  that  the  road 
to  the  barricade  is  long,  that  the  w-ork  is  heavy,  and 
that  the  crowns  of  laurel  to  be  won  in  this  campaign 
are  intermingled  with  thorns.  Generally  these  are 
ambitious  schemers  out  of  work,  who,  having  failed 
in  their  first  efforts,  try  in  this  way  to  cajole  people 
out  of  their  votes,  but  who  a  little  later  will  be  the 
first  to  denounce  them  when  the  people  wish  to  apply 
the  principles  which  they  themselves  have  professed ; 
perhaps  will  even  be  ready  to  turn  artillery  and  gat- 
lings  upon  them  if  they  dare  to  move  before  they, 
the  heads  of  the  movement,  give  the  signal. 

Add  mean  insult,  haughty  contempt,  cowardly 
calumny  from  the  great  majority,  and  you  know  what 
the  people  may  expect  now-a-days  from  most  of  the 
youth  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes  in  the  way  of 
help  toward  the  social  evolution. 

But  then  you  ask,  "  What  shall  we  do?"  When 
there  is  everything  to  be  done  !  When  a  whole  army 
of  young  people  would  find  plenty  to  employ  the  en- 
tire vigor  of  their  youthful  energy,  the  full  force  of 
their  intelligence  and  their  talents,  to  help  the  people 
in  the  vast  enterprise  they  have  undertaken! 

What  shall  we  do?     Listen: 

You  lovers  of  pure  science,  if  you  are  imbued  with 
the  principles  of  socialism,  if  you  have  understood 
the  real  meaning  of  the  revolution  which  is  even  now 
knocking  at  the  door,  do  you  not  see  that  all  science 
has  to  be  recast  in  order  to  place  it  in  harmony  with 
the  new  principles;  that  it  is  your  business  to  ac- 
complish in  this  field  a  revolution  far  greater  than 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  19 

that  which  was  accomplished  in  every  branch  of 
science  during  the  eighteenth  century  ?  Do  you  not 
understand  that  history — which  to-day  is  an  old  wife's 
tale  about  great  kings,  great  statesmen  and  great 
parliaments — that  history  itself  has  to  be  written 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  people,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  work  done  by  the  masses  in  the  long  evo- 
lution of  mankind?  That  social  economy — which  to- 
day is  merely  the  sanctification  of  capitalist  robbery 
— has  to  be  worked  out  afresh  in  its  fundamental 
principles  as  well  as  in  its  innumerable  applications  ? 
That  anthropology,  sociology,  ethics,  must  be  com- 
pletely recast,  and  that  the  very  natural  sciences 
themselves,  regarded  from  another  point  of  view, 
must  undergo  a  profound  modification,  alike  in  re- 
gard to  the  conception  of  natural  phenomena  and 
with  respect  to  the  method  of  exposition  ? 

Very  well,  then.  Set  to  work !  Place  your  abili- 
ties at  the  command  of  the  good  cause.  Especially 
help  us  with  your  clear  logic  to  combat  prejudice 
and  to  lay  by  your  synthesis  the  foundations  of  a 
better  organization ;  yet  more,  teach  us  to  apply  in 
our  daily  arguments  the  fearlessness  of  true  scientific 
investigation,  and  show  us,  as  j-our  predecessors  did, 
how  men  dare  sacrifice  even  life  itself  for  the  triumph 
of  the  truth. 

.  You,  doctors,  who  have  learned  socialism  by  a  bitter 
experience,  never  weary  of  telling  us  to-day,  to- 
morrow, in  season  and  out  of  season,  that  humanity 
itself  hurries  onward  to  decay  if  men  remain  in  the 
present  conditions  of  existence  and  work;  that  all 
your  medicaments  must  be  powerless  against  disease 
while  the  majority  of  mankind  vegetate  in  conditions 
absolutely  contrary  to  those  which  science  tells  us  are 
healthful;  convince  the  people  that  it  is  the  causes 
of  disease  which  must  be  uprooted,  and  show  us  all 
what  is  necessary  to  remove  them. 

Come  with  your  scalpel  and  dissect  for  us  with  an 
unerring  hand  this  society  of  ours  hastening  to  putre- 


20  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

faction.  Tell  us  what  a  rational  existence  should 
and  might  be.  Insist,  as  true  surgeons,  that  a  gan- 
grenous limb  must  be  amputated  when  it  will  poison 
the  whole  body. 

You,  who  have  worked  at  the  application  of  science 
to  industry,  come  and  tell  us  frankly  what  has  been 
the  outcome  of  your  discoveries.  Convince  those 
who  dare  not  march  boldly  toward  the  future  what 
new  inventions  the  knowledge  we  have  already  ac- 
quired carries  in  its  womb,  what  industry  could  do 
under  better  conditions,  what  man  might  easily  pro- 
duce if  he  produced  always  with  a  view  to  enhance 
his  own  production. 

You  poets,  painters,  sculptors,  musicians,  if  you 
understand  your  true  mission  and  the  very  interests 
of  art  itself,  come  with  us.  Place  your  pen,  your 
pencil,  your  chisel,  your  ideas,  at  the  service  of  the 
revolution.  Figure  forth  to  us,  in  your  eloquent 
style,  or  your  impressive  pictures,  the  heroic  struggles 
of  the  people  against  their  oppressors ;  fire  the  hearts 
of  our  youth  with  that  glorious  revolutionary  en- 
thusiasm which  inflamed  the  souls  of  our  ancestors ; 
tell  women  what  a  noble  career  is  that  of  a  husband 
who  devotes  his  life  to  the  great  cause  of  social 
emancipation !  Show  the  people  how  hideous  is 
their  actual  life,  and  place  your  hand  on  the  causes 
of  its  ugliness ;  tell  us  what  a  rational  life  would  be 
if  it  did  not  encounter  at  every  step  the  follies  and 
the  ignominies  of  our  present  social  order. 

Lastly,  all  of  you  who  possess  knowledge,  talent, 
capacity,  industry,  if  you  have  a  spark  of  sympathy 
in  your  nature,  come,  you  and  your  companions,  come 
and  place  your  services  at  the  disposal  of  those  who 
most  need  them.  And  remember,  if  you  do  come, 
that  you  come  not  as  masters,  but  as  comrades  in 
the  struggle  ;  that  you  come  not  to  govern  but  to 
gain  strength  for  yourselves  in  a  new  life  which 
sweeps  upward  to  the  conquest  of  the  future;  that 
you  come  less  to  teach  than  to  grasp  the  aspirations 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  21 

of  the  many:  to  divine  them,  to  give  them  shape, 
and  then  to  work,  without  rest  and  without  haste, 
witli  all  the  fire  of  youth  and  all  the  judgment  of 
age,  to  realize  them  in  actual  life.  Then  and  then 
only  will  you  lead  a  complete,  a  noble,  a  rational  ex- 
istence. Then  you  will  see  that  your  every  effort  on 
this  path  bears  with  it  fruit  in  abundance,  and  this 
sublime  harmony  once  established  between  your  ac- 
tions and  the  dictates  of  your  conscience  will  give 
you  powers  you  never  dreamed  lay  dormant  in  your- 
selves. 

The  never-ceasing  struggle  for  truth,  justice  and 
equality  among  the  people,  whose  gratitude  you  will 
earn — what  nobler  career  can  the  youth  of  all  na- 
tions desire  than  this? 

It  has  taken  me  long  to  show  you  of  the  well-to- 
do  classes  that,  in  view  of  the  dilemma  which  life 
presents  to  you,  you  will  be  forced,  if  courageous 
and  sincere,  to  come  and  work  side  by  side  with  the 
socialists,  and  champion  in  their  ranks  the  cause  of 
the  social  revolution.  And  yet  how  simple  this 
truth  is,  after  all !  But  when  one  is  speaking  to 
those  who  have  suffered  from  the  effects  of  bourgeois 
surroundings,  how  many  sophisms  must  be  com- 
bated, how  many  prejudices  overcome,  how  many 
interested  objections  put  aside ! 

It  is  easy  to  be  brief  to-day  in  addressing  you,  the 
youth  of  the  people.  The  very  pressure  of  events 
impels  you  to  become  socialists,  however  little  3'-ou 
may  have  the  courage  to  reason  and  to  act. 

To  rise  from  the  ranks  of  the  working  people,  and 
not  devote  one's  self  to  bringing  about  the  triumph 
of  socialism,  is  to  misconceive  the  real  interests  at 
stake,  to  give  up  the  cause  and  the  true  historic 
mission. 

Do  you  remember  the  time,  when  still  a  mere  lad, 
you  went  down  one  winter's  day  to  play  in  your  dark 
court  ?  The  cold  nipped  your  shoulders  through 
your  thin  clothes,  and  the   mud   worked   into  your 


22  Afi  Appeal  to  the   Youjig. 

worn-out  shoes.  Even  then,  when  you  saw  chubby 
children  richly  clad  pass  in  the  distance,  looking  at 
you  with  an  air  of  contempt,  you  knew  right  well 
that  these  extravagantly  dressed  imps  were  not  the 
equals  of  yourself  and  your  comrades,  either  in  intel- 
ligence, common-sense,  or  energy.  But,  later,  when 
you  were  forced  to  shut  yourself  up  in  a  filthy  fac- 
tory from  five  or  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  remain 
twelve  hours  standing  close  to  a  whirling  machine, 
and,  a  machine  yourself,  were  forced  to  follow,  day 
after  day  for  whole  years  in  succession,  its  relent- 
less, throbbing  movements — during  all  this  time  the 
others  were  going  quietly  to  be  taught  at  fine  schools, 
at  academies,  at  the  universities.  And  now  these 
same  children,  less  intelligent,  but  better  taught 
than  you,  have  become  your  masters,  are  enjoying 
all  the  pleasures  of  life  and  all  the  advantages  of 
civilization.    And  you  ?   What  sort  of  lot  awaits  you ? 

You  return  to  little,  dark,  damp  lodgings,  where 
five  or  six  human  being^s  herd  together  within  a  few 
square  feet ;  where  your  mother,  sick  of  life,  aged  by 
care  rather  than  years,  offers  you  dry  bread  and  pota- 
toes as  your  only  food,  washed  down  by  a  blackish 
fluid  called,  in  irony,  tea;  and  to  distract  your 
thoughts  you  have  ever  the  same  never-ending  ques- 
tion, "  How  shall  I  be  able  to  pay  the  baker  to- 
morrow, and  the  landlord  the  day  after?" 

What !  must  you  drag  on  the  same  weary  exist- 
ence that  your  father  and  mother  did  for  thirty  and 
forty  years?  Must  you  toil  your  life  long  to  procure 
for  others  all  the  pleasures  of  well-being,  of  knowl- 
edge, of  art,  and  keep  for  yourself  only  the  eternal 
anxiety  as  to  whether  you  can  get  a  bit  of  bread? 
Will  you  forever  give  up  all  that  makes  life  so  beau- 
tiful to  devote  yourself  to  providing  every  luxury  for 
a  handful  of  idlers?  Will  you  wear  yourself  out 
with  toil  and  have  in  return  onlv  trouble,  if  not  mis- 
ery,  when  hard  times — the  fearful  hard  times — come 
upon  you  ?     Is  this  what  you  long  for  in  life  ? 


An  Appeal  to  the   Young.  23 

Perhaps  you  will  give  up.  Seeing  no  way  out  of 
your  condition  whatever,  maybe  you  say  to  yourself, 
'*  Whole  generations  have  undergone  the  same  lot, 
and  I,  who  can  alter  nothing  in  the  matter,  I  must 
submit  also.  Let  us  work  on,  then,  and  endeavor  to 
live  as  well  as  we  can ! " 

Very  well.  In  that  case  life  itself  will  take  pains 
to  enlighten  you. 

One  day  a  crisis  comes,  one  of  those  crises  which 
are  no  longer  mere  passing  phenomena,  as  they  were 
a  while  ago,  but  a  crisis  which  destroys  a  whole  in- 
dustry, which  plunges  thousands  of  workers  into 
misery,  which  crushes  whole  families.  You  struggle 
like  the  rest  against  the  calamity.  But  you  will  soon 
see  how  your  wife,  your  child,  your  friend,  little  by 
little,  succumb  to  privations,  fade  away  under  your 
very  eyes.  For  sheer  want  of  food,  for  lack  of  care 
and  of  medical  assistance,  they  end  their  days  on  the 
pauper's  stretcher,  while  the  life  of  the  rich  sweeps 
past  in  joyous  crowds  through  the  streets  of  the 
great  city  gleaming  in  the  sunlight— utterly  careless 
and  indifferent  to  the  dying  cries  of  those  who  perish. 

Then  you  will  understand  how  utterly  revolting 
this  society  is;  you  will  reflect  upon  the  causes  of 
this  crisis,  and  your  examination  will  go  to  the  very 
depths  of  this  abomination  which  puts  millions  of 
human  beings  at  the  mercy  of  the  brutal  greed  of  a 
handful  of  useless  triflers ;  then  you  will  understand 
that  socialists  are  right  when  they  say  that  our 
present  society  can  be,  tliat  it  must  be,  reorganized 
from  top  to  bottom. 

To  pass  from  general  crises  to  your  particular  case. 
One  day  when  3'our  master  tries  by  a  new  reduction 
of  wages  to  squeeze  out  of  you  a  few  more  cents  in 
order  to  increase  his  fortune  still  further  you  will  pro- 
test; but  he  will  haughtily  answer,  "Go  and  eat  grass, 
if  you  will  not  work  at  the  price  I  offer."  Then  you 
will  understand  that  your  master  not  only  tries  to 
shear  you  like  a  sheep,  but  that  he  looks  upon  you 


24  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

as  an  inferior  kind  of  animal  altogether;  that  not 
content  with  holding  you  in  his  relentless  grip  by 
means  of  the  wage-system,  he  is  further  anxious  to 
make  you  a  slave  in  every  respect.  Then  you  will 
either  bow  down  before  him,  you  will  give  up  the 
feeling  of  human  dignity,  and  you  will  end  by  suffer- 
ing every  possible  humiliation;  or  the  blood  will 
rush  to  your  head,  you  shudder  at  the  hideous  slope 
on  which  you  are  slipping  down,  you  will  retort,  and, 
turned  out  workless  on  the  street,  you  will  under- 
stand how  right  socialists  are  when  they  say  "Revolt ! 
rise  against  this  economic  slavery! "  Then  you  will 
come  and  take  your  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  social- 
ists, and  you  will  work  with  them  for  the  complete 
destruction  of  all  slavery  —  economic,  social,  and 
political. 

Some  day  again  you  will  learn  the  story  of  that 
charming  young  girl  whose  brisk  gait,  frank  manners, 
and  cheerful  conversation  you  so  lovingly  admired. 
After  having  struggled  for  years  and  years  against 
misery,  she  left  her  native  village  for  the  metropolis. 
There  she  knew  right  well  that  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence must  be  hard,  but  she  hoped  at  least  to  be 
able  to  gain  her  living  honestly.  Well,  now  you 
know  what  has  been  her  fate.  Courted  by  the  son 
of  some  capitalist  she  allowed  herself  to  be  enticed 
by  his  fine  words,  she  gave  herself  up  to  him  with 
all  the  passion  of  youth,  only  to  see  herself  aban- 
doned with  a  baby  in  her  arms.  Ever  courageous, 
she  never  ceased  to  struggle  on ;  but  she  broke  down 
in  this  unequal  strife  against  cold  and  hunger,  and 
she  ended  her  days  in  one  of  the  hospitals,  no  one 
knows  which.    .    .    . 

What  will  you  do?  Once  more  there  are  two 
courses  open  to  you.  Either  you  will  push  aside  the 
whole  unpleasant  reminiscence  with  some  stupid 
phrase:  "vShe  was  not  the  first  and  will  not  be  the 
last,"  you  will  say;  perhaps,  some  evening,  you  will 
be  heard  in  a  public  room,  in  company  with  other 


An  Appeal  to  the    Young.  25 

beasts  like  yourself,  outraging  the  young  girl's  mem- 
ory by  some  dirty  stories;  or,  on  tlie  other  hand, 
your  remembrance  of  the  past  will  touch  your  heart ; 
you  will  try  to  meet  the  seducer  to  denounce  him  to 
his  face ;  you  will  reflect  upon  the  causes  of  these 
events  that  recur  every  day,  and  you  will  comprehend 
that  they  will  never  cease  so  long  as  societ}'  is  divided 
into  two  camps :  on  one  side  the  wretched  and  on  the 
other  the  lazy — the  jugglers  with  fine  phrases  and 
bestial  lusts.  You  will  understand  that  it  is  high 
time  to  bridge  over  this  gulf  of  separation,  and  you 
will  rush  to  place  yourself  among  the  socialists. 

And  you,  woman  of  the  people,  has  this  left  you 
cold  and  unmoved  ?  While  caressing  the  pretty  head 
of  that  child  who  nestles  close  to  you,  do  you  never 
think  about  the  lot  that  awaits  him,  if  the  present 
social  conditions  are  not  changed.  Do  you  never 
reflect  on  the  future  awaiting  your  young  sister,  and 
all  your  own  children  ?  Do  you  wish  that  your  sons 
should  vegetate  as  your  father  vegetated,  with  no 
other  care  than  how  to  get  his  daily  bread,  with  no 
other  pleasure  than  that  of  the  gin-palace  ?  Do  you 
want  your  husband,  your  boys,  to  be  ever  at  the 
mercy  of  the  first  comer  who  has  inherited  from  his 
father  a  capital  to  exploit  them  with  ?  Are  you 
anxious  that  they  should  remain  slaves  for  a  master, 
food  for  powder,  mere  dung  wherewith  to  manure 
the  pasture-lands  of  the  rich  expropriator  ? 

Nay,  never;  a  thousand  times  no!  I  know  right 
well  that  your  blood  has  boiled  when  you  have  heard 
that  your  husbands,  after  they  entered  on  a  strike 
full  of  fire  and  determination,  have  ended  by  accept- 
ing, cap  in  hand,  the  conditions  dictated  by  the 
bloated  bourgeois  in  a  tone  of  haughty  contempt ! 
I  know  that  you  have  admired  those  Spanish  women 
who  in  a  popular  rising  presented  their  breasts  to  the 
bayonets  of  the  soldiery  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  in- 
surrectionists. I  am  certain  that  you  mention  with 
reverence  the  name  of  the  woman   who   lodged  a 


26  An  Appeal  to  the   Young. 

bullet  in  the  chest  of  that  ruffianly  official  who  dared 
to  outrag-e  a  socialist  prisoner  in  her  cell.  And  I  am 
confident  that  3'our  heart  beats  faster  when  3'ou 
read  how  the  women  of  the  people  in  Paris  gathered 
under  a  rain  of  shells  to  encourage  "their  men"  to 
heroic  action. 

Every  one  of  5'ou,  then,  honest  young  folks,  men 
and  women,  peasants,  laborers,  artisans  and  soldiers, 
you  will  understand  what  are  your  rights  and  you 
will  come  along  with  us;  you  will  come  in  order  to 
work  with  your  brethren  in  the  preparation  of  that 
revolution  which,  sweeping  away  every  vestige  of 
slavery,  tearing  the  fetters  asunder,  breaking  with 
the  old  worn-out  traditions  and  opening  to  all  man- 
kind a  new  and  wider  scope  of  J03-0US  existence,  shall 
at  length  establish  true  liberty,  real  equality,  un- 
grudging fraternity  throughout  human  society;  work 
with  all,  work  for  all — the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
fruits  of  their  labor,  the  complete  development  of  all 
their  faculties ;  a  rational,  human  and  happy  life ! 

Don't  let  anyone  tell  us  that  we — but  a  vsmall 
band — are  too  weak  to  attain  unto  the  magnificent 
end  at  which  we  aim. 

Count  and  see  how  many  of  us  there  are  who 
suffer  this  injustice. 

We  peasants  who  work  for  others  and  who  mumble 
the  straw  while  our  master  eats  the  wheat,  we  by  our- 
selves are  millions  of  men. 

We  workers  who  weave  silks  and  velvets  in  order 
that  we  may  be  clothed  in  rags,  we,  too,  are  a  great 
multitude ;  and  when  the  clang  of  the  factories  per- 
mits us  a  moment's  repose,  we  overflow  the  streets 
and  squares  like  the  sea  in  a  spring  tide. 

We  soldiers  who  are  driven  along  to  the  word  of 
command,  or  by  blows;  we  who  receive  the  bullets 
for  which  our  officers  get  crosses  and  pensions ;  we, 
too,  poor  fools  who  have  hitherto  known  no  l)etter 
than  to  shoot  our  brothers — why,  we  have  only  to 
make  a  right-about-face  toward  these   plumed  and 


Ati  Appeal  to  the    Young.  27 

decorated  personages  who  are  so  good  as  to  com- 
mand us,  to  see  a  ghastly  pallor  overspread  their  faces. 

Ay,  all  of  us  together,  we  who  suffer  and  are  in- 
sulted daily,  we  are  a  multitude  whom  no  man  can 
number,  we  are  the  ocean  that  can  embrace  and 
swallow  up  all  else. 

When  we  have  but  the  will  to  do  it,  that  very 
moment  will  justice  be  done :  that  very  instant  the 
tyrants  of  the  earth  shall  bite  the  dust. 

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HERBERT  SPENCER'S 
SYNTHETIC  PHDLOSOPHY 


BY 

BENJAMIN  F.  UNDERWOOD 


COLLATERAL  READINGS  SUGGESTED:    . 

Spencer's  First  Principles,  Principles  of  Biology,  Principles  of  Psy- 
chology, Principles  of  Sociology,  Data  of  Ethics,  and  Chapters  on  Jus- 
tice,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly ;  Fiske's  Cosmic  Philosophy ;  Thomp- 
son's A  System  of  Psychology ;  Cazelles's  Evolution  Philosophy ;  E,  L. 
Youmans's  Lecture  on  Herbert  Spencer  and  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution, 
in  Gazelles. 


HERBERT  SPENCER'S  SYNTHETIC 
PHILOSOPHY.* 

By  B.  F.  Undeewood. 

The  movement  imparted  to  philosophy  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  "  Newtonian  method  "  to  philosophical  problems 
gave  rise  to  that  form  of  sensationalism  which  originated 
with  Locke  and  culminated  with  Hume.  Its  motto  was : 
Nihil  est  in  intellectu  quod  non  fuerit  in  sensii. 

Before  this  movement  was  started  philosophical  tenets 
were  principally  deduced  from  "innate  ideas."  Descartes 
had  appealed  to  the  innate  idea  of  God  as  ens  realissimum^ 
as  supreme  truth,  with  which  all  philosophy  had  to  con- 
form ;  and  to  Leibnitz  innate  ideas  afforded  the  main  prem- 
ises for  philosophical  deductions.  But,  of  course,  if  there 
is  nothing  in  mind  but  what  enters  into  it  through  the 
senses,  there  can  not  be  any  innate  ideas,  such,  for  instance, 
as  an  innate  idea  of  "  God  "  or  of  "  immortal  soul."  All 
knowledge  must,  then,  be  derived  from  sensorial  experience. 

The  negative  or  destructive  phase  of  the  sensation  phi- 
losophy resulted  consistently  in  the  annihilation  of  all  ideas 
not  sense-derived.  Its  positive  or  constructive  phase  con- 
sisted in  the  attempt  to  build  up  knowledge  out  of  sensorial 
data  alone. 

Berkeley  dissipated  the  idea  of  the  "  extended  substance," 
or  matter  as  externally  subsisting,  by  showing  that  the  sen- 
sorial elements  entering  into  the  idea  of  matter — its  primary 
qualities,  such  as  extension,  form,  etc.,  as  well  as  its  second- 
ary qualities,  such  as  hardness,  color,  etc. — that  all  these 
elements,  without  exception,  are  subjective,  mere  modes  of 
feeling;  that  the  belief  that  there  exists  an  extended, 
formed,  hard,  and  colored  substance  outside  the  perceiving 
mind  is  an  illusion.  Berkeley  made  use  of  this  way  of  rea- 
soning to  combat  materialism,  and  to  glorify  the  idea  of 
God  and  of  the  immortality  of  man.  With  him  it  was  God 
who  awakened  the  sensorial  perceptions  in  us,  and  our  im- 
mortal soul  that  perceived  them. 

*  This  lecture  is  intended  not  merely  as  an  exposition  of  the  Synthetic  Philoso- 
phy, but  also  as  a  history  of  its  origin,  and  its  relation  to  other  systems,  especially 
to  those  of  Huuie  and  Kant. 


86  Herhert  Spencer's  Syiithetic  Philosophy. 

Hume,  following  Berkeley's  manner  of  reasoning,  aimed 
to  show  that  our  belief  in  the  "  thinking  substance  "  or  soul 
is  just  as  much  an  illusion  as  our  belief  in  the  extended 
substance  or  matter ;  and  that  no  sensorial  experience  can 
bring  us  any  knowledge  of  supreme  being  awakening  per- 
ceptions in  us.  The  sensation  philosophy  had  thus  run  out 
in  complete  nihilism — a  godless,  soulless,  matterless  world, 
consisting  of  nothing  but  sensorial  elements  more  or  less 
closely  connected  by  mental  links,  so  as  to  form  a  somewhat 
consistent  experience. 

Amid  these  nihilistic  implications  of  the  sensation  phi- 
losophy it  remained  clear  beyond  doctrinal  cavil  that  the 
sensorial  particulars  leave  faint  copies  behind  them  in  mem- 
ory; and  that  these  faint  copies,  called  ideas,  enter  into 
manifold  combinations  among  themselves,  and  also  with  the 
direct  or  vivid  sensorial  feelings.  The  question  concerning 
the  nature  of  the  bond  of  connection  between  experiential 
data  became  from  now  on  the  principal  question  in  philoso- 
phy. Ilume  had  rendered  it  evident  that  the  connection 
between  the  direct,  vivid,  matter-of-fact  data  is  of  an  essen- 
tially different  kind  from  that  between  the  faint  remem- 
bered copies  of  them — different,  above  all,  from  mere  logical 
connection. 

In  modern  philosophy,  through  the  influence  of  Descartes 
and  Leibnitz,  the  method  of  acquiring  knowledge  was  held 
to  be  exclusively  that  of  deduction,  as  taught  by  formal 
logic ;  the  ancient  and  current  method  of  syllogistic  reason- 
ing from  universals  to  particulars. 

Hume's  argumentation  left  no  doubt  that  direct  matter-of- 
fact  knowledge  is  derived  in  an  opposite  manner — namely, 
by  beginning  with  particular  sensorial  feelings,  whose  con- 
nection is  not  ascertained  by  a  process  of  thought,  but  is 
entirely  given  in  direct  sensorial  experience.  Not  because 
I  originally  have  the  general  idea  that  fire  bums  do  I  know 
that  this  particular  fire  will  burn  when  I  touch  it :  but  be- 
cause I  have  numbers  of  times  experienced  tiiat  particular 
fires  burn,  have  I  formed  the  general  idea  that  all  fires  burn. 
This  means  that  the  logical  connection  found  to  exist  in 
the  realm  of  ideas  is  secondary  to  the  real  connection  found 
to  exist  in  tlie  realm  of  sensorial  experience.  The  connec- 
tion between  natural  events  or  matter-of-fact  occurrences 
can  be  derived  solely  through  sensorial  experience,  and  can 
not  be  arrived  at  by  purely  logical  or  mental  processes. 
Causal  connection  differs  tutu  generc  from  logical  connection. 


Herbert  Spe7icer^s  Synthetic  Philosophy.  87 

The  relation  of  cause  and  effect  consists  merely  in  the 
succession  of  our  impressions  and  ideas.  The  sequence  is 
ideal  and  its  order  has  become  established  by  a  habit  of  ex- 
pectation derived  from  many  and  frequent  experiences  of  a 
definite  succession  of  impressions.  Thus  the  sight  of  a  flame 
having  been  uniformly  followed  by  the  feeling  of  heat,  this 
feeling  will  always  in  the  future  arise  vividly  whenever  and 
wherever  a  flame  is  seen.  The  connection  of  cause  and  effect 
is  therefore  only  ideal,  having  no  relation  to  an  invariable 
permanent  objective  order,  being  only  a  subjective  bond  be- 
tween the  transitory  particulars  of  sense  and  their  reflected 
remembrance. 

Besides  the  fundamental  distinction  between  causal  con- 
nection and  logical  connection  implied  in  Hume's  argumen- 
tation, the  derivation  of  all  ideas  from  sensorial  experience 
— purely  experiential  links  forming  the  connection  between 
these  data  of  knowledge — gave  rise  to  wdiat  is  known  as 
English  experientialism,  or  the  association  philosophy.  The 
aim  of  this  ishilosophical  method  is  to  discover  the  general 
laws  that  govern  the  association  of  ideas  experientially  de- 
rived, and  to  show  that  all  our  complex  ideas  are  formed  by 
association  of  experienced  i^articulars,  in  accordance  with 
those  general  laws. 

It  was  Hume's  elucidation  of  the  process  of  matter-of-fact 
experience  that  awakened  Kant  from  the  "  dogmatic  slum- 
ber "  into  which  he  had  been  rocked  by  the  purely  logical 
or  deductive  philosophy  of  the  Leibnitz- Wolffian  school, 
"  leading  him,"  as  Dr.  Edmund  JMontgomery  says,  "  to  dis- 
cover the  enchanted  path  traveled  by  so  many  since,  on 
which  the  charmed  wanderer  is  carried,  far  away  from  real 
nature,  to  the  mystic  realm  of  transcendental  idealism."  By 
this  school  of  thought  it  has  been  taken  for  granted  incon- 
testably  that  the  general  ideas  or  so-called  concepts,  found 
ready-made  in  our  mind  when  we  begin  to  philosophize,  are 
eternal  and  universal  verities  implanted  in  us  independently 
of  all  external  experience,  and  that  our  understanding  of 
truth  is  arrived  at  solely  by  deriving  it  from  these  pre-exist- 
ing concepts  by  means  of  syllogistic  reasoning. 

Kant  was  the  first  fully  to  appreciate  the" important  im- 
plications involved  in  Hume's  experiential  derivation  of  all 
knowledge  ;  for  if  there  is  really  no  other  way  of  arriving 
at  the  knowledge  of  truth  than  that  of  accepting  it  as  it 
comes  to  us  in  sensorial  experience,  and  if  the  knowledge  of 
such  truth  consists  simply  in  au  exiierienced  connection  of 


88  Herbert  Spencer^ s  Syjithetic  P1iUoso2)liy. 

sensorial  and  therefore  wholly  natural  data,  then  all  meta- 
physical conceptions  out  of  which  philosophy  had  been 
hitherto  constructed  could  be  nothing  but  idle  illusions,  and 
all  existing  metaphysics  nothing  but  a  baseless  dream,  a  mere 
castle  in  the  air. 

Kant's  life-long  and  most  earnest  endeavor  was  to  extricate 
philosophy  from  these  God  and  soul  eliminating  implications 
of  sensorial  experientialism.  With  him  the  problem  assumed 
the  following  form  :  Is  our  mind  endowed  or  not  endowed 
with  a  faculty  of  forming  a  priori  synthetical  propositions  ? 
Or,  in  other  words,  is  it  or  is  it  not  capable  of  forming 
knowledge  of  some  kind  without  the  existence  of  sensorial 
experience  ?  If  not,  then  the  cause  of  metaphysical  philoso- 
phy is  hopeless. 

Kant  believed  that  in  pure  mathematics  he  had  discovered 
a  kind  of  knowledge  constructed  wholly  from  a  2}riori  data 
by  the  mind  without  the  aid  of  sensorial  experience.  That 
the  truths  of  pure  mathematics  consist  of  such  a  j^riori  syn- 
thetical propositions  is  the  fundamental  assertion  upon 
which  the  entire  Kantian  philosophy  is  grounded.  To  make 
good  his  case,  he  had  first  to  show  that  space  and  time,  in 
which  all  mathematical  constructions  take  form,  are  them- 
selves a  priori  possessions  of  the  mind,  and  he  had  further- 
more to  show  that  the  synthetic  power — the  power  wliich 
combines  particular  data  into  systematic  knowledge — is  like- 
wise an  a  priori  possession  of  the  mind. 

Philosophers  in  Germany  before  Kant  had  looked  upon 
perception,  or  the  manifold  of  experience  which  appears  ii^ 
time  and  space,  as  merely  an  indistinct  kind  of  apprehen- 
sion, whose  clear  -and  distinct  knowledge  they  held  to  con- 
sist exclusively  in  concepts.  Kant  now  declared  perceptual 
sensibility  to  be  a  fundamental  faculty  of  the  mind  alto- 
gether distinct  from  its  conceptual  apprehension.  Accord- 
ing to  him,  this  original  or  pure  perceptual  sensibility  of  the 
mind  consists  in  the  empty  forms  of  space  and  time,  which 
he  calls  the  outer  and  the  inner  sense,  respectively.  Into 
these  a  priori  forms  of  our  sensibility  all  sense-derived  ma- 
terial, all  a  posteriori  or  externally  imparted  sensorial  data, 
are  received.  I'his  occurs  in  a  purely  receptive  manner 
without  the  active  part  of  our  nature  coming  into  play. 
The  active  part  of  our  nature  Kant  declares  to  be  intelligence 
exclusively.  In  liis  view  sensibility  is  an  entirely  passive 
faculty,  all  activity  being  exclusively  a  matter  of  intellect. 

It  is  this  lodging  of  all  activity,  of  all  combining  and  ap- 


Eerhert  Spencerh  Synthetic  Pliilosophy.  89 

pretending  power  in  nature,  in  a  special  facnlty  called  in- 
telligence, and  believed  to  constitute  mind  proper,  that 
inevitably  leads  to  pure  transcendental  idealism,  such  as  was 
taught  by  the  late  Thomas  Hill  Green,  and  is  taught  at 
present  in  many  of  the  universities ;  for,  if  our  knowledge 
is  in  fact  out  and  out,  and  through  and  through,  a  synthe- 
tized  compound,  it  follows  that — intelligence  being  declared 
the  only  synthetical  power  extant — our  knowledge  must  be 
out  and  out,  and  through  and  through,  a  product  of  intelli- 
gence. And  this  means  that  thought  and  being  are  identi- 
cal, that  the  world  consists  of  nothing  but  thought. 

Kant  himself  abhorred  pure  idealism.  He  firmly  believed 
that  sense-material  is  given  to  sensibility  from  outside ;  that 
there  exists  actually  a  realm  of  things  in  themselves,  of  the 
true  nature  of  which,  however,  he  was  positive  that  we  can 
know  nothing,  and  this  because  space  and  time,  the  forms 
in  which  the  sense-given  material  appears  to  us,  and  the 
different  modes  of  combination,  the  so-called  categories, 
through  which  this  raw  material  is  elaborated  into  system- 
atic knowledge,  are  faculties  belonging  to  our  own  mental 
nature. 

Moreover,  though  Kant  believed  that  pure  mathematics 
is  constructed  a  priori  by  force  of  our  seusorially  unaided 
mental  endowments,  he  came  to  the  final  conclusion  that 
our  combining  faculty,  in  order  to  constitute  real  knowl- 
edge, requires  imperatively  sense-given  material  to  work 
upon ;  that  constructions  formed  of  any  other  material  are 
baseless.  It  is,  however,  important  to  notice  that  Kant  be- 
lieved the  combining  categories  or  synthetical  functions  of 
the  intellect  to  inhere  in  an  intelligible  Ego,  belonging  to  a 
supernatural  sphere  of  existence.  In  spite  of  his  complete 
overthrow  of  the  old  metaphysical  idols  by  force  of  his 
theoretical  speculations,  Kant  had  in  reserve  a  loop-hole 
through  which  he  was  convinced  he  could  more  effectively 
than  ever  establish  connection  Avith  the  intelligible  world, 
the  real  existence  of  which  he  had  never  doubted.  God  and 
the  immortal  soul  of  man,  as  intelligible  or  supernatural 
existences,  were  to  him  primordial  verities,  attested  beyond 
contention  by  the  moral  law,  in  obedience  to  which  our  own 
intelligible  nature  has  power  to  determine  the  course  of 
nature  by  means  of  free  volitional  causation. 

Leibnitz,  having  become  acquainted  with  Locke's  sensa- 
tionalism, modified  considerably  his  view  of  innate  ideas. 
He  changed,  however,  the  motto  of  the  sensation  philosophy 


90  Herbert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Pliilosophy. 

by  adding  a  clause  to  it,  wbicli  made  it  read  :  Nihil  est  in  in- 
tellectu  quod  non  fuerit  in  sensu,  nisi  ipse  intellectus. 
Thus  changed,  it  became  the  motto  of  Kant's  transcend- 
ental idealism,  and  this  view  of  innate  faculties^  instead  of 
innate  ideas,  distinguishes  the  Kantian  view,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  the  old  Leibnitz- Wolffian  philosophy  that  rested 
entirely  on  innate  ideas,  and  on  the  other  hand  from  Hume's 
sensorial  experientialism,  which  denies  the  existence  of  any 
sort  of  innate  possession,  whether  in  the  form  of  ready-made 
ideas  or  of  mere  potential  faculties.  Kant  undertakes  to 
show  that  the  mind  brings  with  it  certain  elements  of  a 
priori  knowledge  in  which  no  empirical  influence,  personal 
or  ancestral,  is  traceable.  "  Experience,"  he  says,  "  consists 
of  intuitions  which  are  entirely  the  work  of  the  understand- 
ing." "  Experience  consists  in  the  synthetical  connections 
of  phenomena  (perceptions)  in  consciousness,  so  far  as 
the  connection  is  necessary  "  (Prolegomena  1,  sec.  23,  23). 
"  The  reader  had  probably  been  long  accustomed  to  consider 
experience  a  mere  empirical  synthesis  of  perception,  and 
hence  not  to  reflect  that  it  goes  much  further  than  these  ex- 
tend, as  it  gives  empirical  judgments  universal  validity,  and 
for  that  presupposes  pure  unity  of  the  understanding  which 
precedes  a  pyHori^^  (ibid.,  sec.  26,  MahafEy's  translation). 
"  It  is  the  matter  of  all  phenomena  that  is  given  to  us  a 
posteriori;  the  form  must  be  ready  a  priori  for  them  in  the 
mind." 

"  Before  objects  are  given  to  me,  that  is  a  priori,  I  must 
presuppose  in  myself  laws  of  the  undcrstai^ding  which  are 
expressed  in  conceptions  a  priori.  To  these  conceptions  all 
objects  of  experience  must  necessarily  conform"  (Preface 
to  second  edition  of  Kritik).  We  are  affected  by  objects, 
he  argued,  only  by  intuition,  which  is  always  sensuous. 
The  faculty  of  thinking  the  object  of  sensuous  intuition  is 
the  understanding.  "  Understanding  can  not  intuit,  the 
sensibility  can  not  think.  In  no  other  way  than  from  tlio 
united  operation  of  both  can  knowledge  arise." 

Thus  Kant  maintains  that  before  sensuous  impressions 
can  be  changed  into  experience  tliey  must  be  molded  by 
the  mutual  forms  of  sensible  intuition  and  logical  concep- 
tion. It  is  universally  admitted  amoTig  tliinkers  tliat  Kant 
tried  to  hold  positions  that  are  contradictory ;  but  on  this 
point  I  can  not  dwell  liere. 

The  post-Kantiun  pliildsophcrs  aimed  to  overcome  the 
new  dualism  implied  by  Kant's  contention  that  not  only 


Herlert  Spencer^s  Syntlietic  Philosophy.  91 

sensations  as  such,  but  also  space  and  time,  the  very  media 
in  which  they  appeared,  and  their  whole  synthesis  in  con- 
sciousness, are  products  of  the  feeling  and  thinking  indi- 
vidual, and  by  his  insisting  on  the  existence  of  an  outside 
realm  of  things-in-themselves  affecting  the  individual's  sen- 
sibility. Fichte  tried  to  prove  the  synthetical  power  of  the 
individual  to  create  the  objective  world  ;  Hegel,  by  identi- 
fying thought  with  being,  and  subjective  thought  with  uni- 
versal thought  (transcendental  idealism)  ;  Schelling,  by 
making  the  subjective  and  objective  both  inhere  in  one  and 
the  same  all-comprising  hyper-subjective  and  hyper-object- 
ive substance  or  subject-object  (transcendental  realism). 
Fichte,  Hegel,  Schelling,  Schopenhauer,  all  founded  their 
systems  on  Kant's  a  piiori  elements  in  knowledge.  The 
main  line  of  descent  from  Hume  in  England  was  repre- 
sented by  Hartley,  James  Mill,  and  John  Stuart  Mill ;  and 
none  of  them  were  able  to  reconcile  with  their  experiential 
philosophy  the  fact  of  a  jiriori  forms  of  intuition  on  which 
Kant  had  rightly  insisted. 

It  remained  for  Herbert  Spencer  to  apply  the  principle 
of  evolution  to  mind  and  to  show  that  Kant's  "  forms  of 
thought,"  although  a  priori  in  the  individual,  are  experi- 
ential in  the  race — in  other  words,  were  acquired  in  the 
evolutionary  process.  Long  before  Spencer,  instincts  were 
regarded  as  acquired  mental  habitudes  that  had  become 
organically  fixed.  Conscious  experience  and  conscious 
memory  of  it  were  thus  held  to  pass,  by  means  of  organic 
fixation  and  subsequent  transmission  of  the  modified  sti'uct- 
ure,  into  organized  experience  and  memory.  This  concep- 
tion forms  the  nucleus  of  Spencer's  mental  philosophy. 
Thus  Herbert  Spencer, "  our  great  philosopher  " — as  Darwin 
called  him — in  his  Principles  of  Psychology,  published  be- 
fore Darwin's  Origin  of  Species  had  appeared,  assuming  the 
truth  of  organic  evolution,  endeavored  to  show  how  man's 
mental  constitution  was  acquired.  Spencer,  recognizing  the 
existence  of  the  subjective  forms,  with  a  grasp  of  thought 
and  philosophic  insight  never  surpassed,  shows  that  while 
in  the  iudividual  they  are  a  priori,  in  the  race  they  are  ex- 
periential, since  they  are  constant,  universal  experiences  or- 
ganized as  tendencies  and  transmitted,  like  any  of  the  phys- 
ical organs,  as  a  heritage  ;  that  thus  such  a  priori  forms  as 
those  of  space,  time,  causality,  etc.,  must  have  had  their 
origin  in  experience.  Says  Dr.  Carpenter :  "  No  physiolo- 
gist can  deem  it  improbable  that  the  intuitions  which  we 


92  Herlert  Spencerh  Synthetic  Philosophy. 

recoo-nize  in  our  mental  constitution  have  been  acquired  by 
a  process  of  gradual  development  in  the  race  corresponding 
to  that  which  we  trace  by  observation  in  the  individual.  .  .  . 
The  doctrine  that  the  intellectual  and  moral  intuitions  of 
any  one  generation  are  the  embodiment  in  its  mental  con- 
stitution of  the  experience  of  the  race  was  first  explicitly 
put  forth  by  ]\Ir.  Herbert  Spencer,  in  whose  philosophical 
treatises  it  will  be  found  most  ably  developed." 

Lewes  remarks :  "  Such  is  one  of  the  many  profouud  con- 
ceptions with  which  this  great  thinker  has  enriched  philoso- 
phy, and  it  ought  to  have  finally  closed  the  debate  between 
the  a  priori  and  the  experiential  schools,  in  so  far  as  both 
admit  a  common  ground  of  biological  interpretation,  though, 
of  course,  it  leaves  the  metempirical  hypothesis  untouched." 

Spencer  saw  that  this  conception  affords  a  solution  of  the 
problems  of  sensorial  experience  and  innate  faculties,  and  is 
a  compromise  between  Locke's  and  Kant's  school  of  thought ; 
between  the  sensation  philosophy  and  transcendental  ideal- 
ism. With  Hume,  and  against  Kant,  this  view  maintains 
that  all  knowledge  is  derived  from  sensorial  experience. 
But  with  Kant,  and  against  Hume,  it  asserts  that  we  are, 
nevertheless,  born  with  predisposed  faculties  of  thought, 
which  necessarily  constitute  a  preformed  recipient  and 
norm  for  all  new  experience. 

As  regards  the  inseparable  bond  of  connection  between 
experiential  particulars,  it  holds  that  it  is,  indeed,  estab- 
lished through  habit,  but  by  means  of  generical  inherit- 
ance, and  not  merely  during  individual  life;  that  it  is,  how- 
ever, certainly  not  established  through  the  functional  play 
of  faculties  inherent  in  mind  prior  to  all  experience,  indi- 
vidual or  ancestral. 

Hume  ignored  completely  the  existence  of  anything  be- 
yond consciousness.  He  does  not  assume  powers  outside  of 
us  awakening  our  sensations.  He  takes  account  of  nothing 
but  vivid  aTid  faint  ideas  and  their  combinations.  Spencer, 
on  the  contrary,  assumes  with  Kant  the  existence  of  a  realm 
external  to  us  that  has  power  to  affect  our  sensibility.  But, 
unlike  Kant,  who  allows  these  affections  to  fall  chaotically 
into  empty  .space  and  time,  and  to  receive  all  their  signifi- 
cance solely  from  the  combining,  systematizing,  and  appre- 
hending power  of  the  intellect,  Spencer  teaches  that  the  or- 
der found  obtaining  among  conscious  states  has  been  estab- 
lished by  vital  and  organic  adjustment  to  a  corrcsi)onding 
order  obtaining  among  the  forces  that  constitute  existence 


Herbert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Philosophy.  93 

outside  of  consciousness.  Life,  with  all  its  mental  as  well 
as  vital  manifestations,  consists  with  him  in  the  adjustment 
of  internal  or  subjective  relations  to  external  or  objective 
relations. 

The  psychological  fact  is  that  the  forms  are  connate, 
therefore  a  priori;  the  psychogenetical  fact  is  that  the 
forms  are  products  of  ancestral  experience,  and  therefore 
a  posteriori.  Locke  was  right  in  claiming  that  all  knowl- 
edge is  ultimately  derived  from  experience,  from  intercourse 
between  organism  and  its  medium.  Kant  was  right  in  rec- 
ognizing the  fact  that  there  are  definite  tendencies  or  pre- 
dispositions in  the  individual  at  birth.  Locke  was  wrong  in 
denying  that  there  is  any  element  in  mind  a  p)riori  to  the 
individual.  Kant  was  wrong  in  ignoring  the  results  in  the 
individual  mind  of  ancestral  experiences. 

Says  Mr.  John  Fiske :  "  Though  Kant  was  one  of  the 
chief  pioneers  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  having  been 
the  first  to  propose  and  to  elaborate  in  detail  the  theory  of 
the  nebular  origin  of  planetary  systems,  yet  the  conce23tion 
of  a  continuous  development  of  life  in  all  its  modes,  physi- 
cal and  psychical,  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  in  Kant's 
day  to  be  adopted  into  philosophy.  Hence,  in  his  treatment 
of  mind,  as  regards  both  intelligence  and  emotion,  Kant 
took  what  may  be  called  a  statical  view  of  the  subject ;  and 
finding  in  the  adult,  civilized  mind,  upon  the  study  of  which 
his  systems  of  psychology  and  ethics  were  founded,  a  num- 
ber of  organized  moral  intuitions  and  an  organized  moral 
sense,  which  urges  men  to  seek  the  right  and  shun  the  wrong, 
irrespective  of  utilitarian  considerations  of  pleasure  and  pain, 
he  proceeded  to  deal  with  these  moral  intuitions  and  this 
moral  sense  as  if  they  were  ultimate  facts,  incapable  of  be- 
ing analyzed  into  simpler  emotional  elements.  ...  So  long 
as  the  subject  is  contemplated  from  a  statical  point  of  view, 
so  long  as  individual  experience  is  studied  without  reference 
to  ancestral  experience,  the  follower  of  Katit  can  always 
hold  his  ground  against  the  followers  of  Locke  in  ethics  as 
well  as  in  psychology.  AVhen  the  Kantian  asserts  that  the 
intuitions  of  right  and  wrong,  as  well  as  the  intuitions 
of  time  and  space,  are  independent  of  experience,  he  occu- 
pies a  position  which  is  impregnable  so  long  as  the  organi- 
zation of  experiences  through  successive  generations  is  left 
out  of  the  discussion.  .  .  .  Admitting  the  truth  of  the 
Kantian  position  that  there  exists  in  us  a  moral  sense  for 
analyzing  which  our  individual  experience  does  not  afford 


94  Herhert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  PliilosojpJiy. 

the  requisite  data,  and  which  must  therefore  be  regarded  as 
ultimate  for  each  individual,  it  is,  nevertheless,  open  to  us 
to  inquire  into  the  emotional  antecedents  of  this  organized 
moral  sense  as  indicated  in  ancestral  types  of  physical  life. 
The  inquiry  Avill  result  in  the  conviction  that  the  moral 
sense  is  not  ultimate,  but  derivative,  and  that  it  has  been 
built  up  out  of  slowly  organized  experiences  of  pleasures 
and  pains." 

Says  Dr.  Edmund  Montgomery,  learned  in  all  the  schools 
of  philosophic  thought :  "  Philosophy,  after  twenty-four 
centuries  of  most  diversified  trials,  had  failed  to  discover 
the  ways  of  knowledge.  In  no  manner  could  it  be  ade- 
quately extracted  from  reason,  and  just  as  little  could  it  be 
fully  derived  from  the  senses.  Nor  had  any  compromise  at 
all  succeeded.  Nativism  and  empiricism  remained  funda- 
mentally irreconcilable.  Suddenly,  however,  liglit  began  to 
pierce  the  hitherto  immovable  darkness.  It  was  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer  who  caught  one  of  those  rare  revealing  glimpses 
that  initiate  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  thought.  He 
saw  that  the  evolution  hypothesis  furnishes  a  solution  of 
the  controversy  between  the  disciples  of  Locke  and  Kant. 
To  us  younger  thinkers,  into  whose  serious  meditations 
Darwinism  entered  from  the  beginning  as  a  potent  solvent 
of  many  an  ancient  mystery,  this  reconciliation  of  trans- 
cendentalism and  experientialism  may  have  consistently 
presented  itself  as  an  evident  corollary  from  the  laws  of 
heredity.  But  what  an  achievement  for  a  solitary  thinker, 
aided  by  no  other  light  than  the  penetration  of  his  own 
genius,  before  Darwinism  was  current,  to  discover  this 
deeply  hidden  secret  of  nature,  which  with  one  stroke  dis- 
closed the  true  relation  of  innate  and  acquired  faculties,  an 
enigma  over  which  so  many  generations  of  philosophers  had 
pondered  in  vain  !  " 

Du  Bois-Eeymond  disputes  the  priority  of  this  foreshadow- 
ing insiglit.  In  his  lecture  on  The  Physiology  of  Exercise  he 
says:  "  With  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  meeting  me  in  the  same 
thought,  which  I  believe,  however,  I  have  more  sharply 
grasped,  I  deduced  on  a  former  occasion  how,  in  such  trans- 
missibility  of  educationally  derived  aj^titude,  possibly  lies 
the  reconciliation  of  the  great  antithesis  of  the  theory  of 
knowledge — of  the  empirical  and  the  innate  views." 

I  am  not  able  to  Judge  as  to  the  justice  of  Du  Bois-Eey- 
mond's  claim,  but  evidently  he  had  no  clear  conception  of 
the  subject  such  as  alone  could  have  enabled  him  to  make 


Herlert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Pliilosopliy,  95 

the  discovery  a  consistent  part  of  a  scientific  theory  or  a 
philosophical  system. 

As  regards  the  intimate  nature  of  the  ultimate  reality 
represented  in  consciousness,  Spencer,  like  Kunt,  professes 
complete  ignorance.  He  holds  it  to  be  wholly  unknowable. 
Yet,  unlike  Kant,  who  derives  his  God  from  the  existence 
of  the  moral  law,  he  concludes  that  the  noumenal  power  be- 
hind phenomena,  though  unknowable,  is  an  all-efBcient 
Absolute,  a  First  Cause  or  Supreme  Power,  from  which  all 
natural  jjhenomena  proceed,  they  being  manifestations  of 
the  same. 

Spencer  maintains,  with  Kant  substantially,  that  external 
things  are  known  to  us  only  as  states  of  consciousness,  alike 
in  their  so-called  primary  and  secondary  qualities.  What 
things  are  in  themselves  can  not  be  represented  by  feeling. 
Matter,  space,  motion,  force,  all  our  fundamental  ideas  are 
derived  from  generalizing  and  abstracting  our  experiences 
of  resistance — the  ultimate  material  of  knowledge — "  the 
primordial,  universal,  ever-present  constituent  of  conscious- 
ness." To  us,  matter  is  a  congeries  of  qualities — weight, 
resistance,  extension,  etc. ;  and  these  are  names  for  different 
ways  in  which  our  consciousness  is  affected.  If  we  were 
destitute  of  sight,  touch,  smell,  taste,  and  hearing,  these 
qualities  would  cease  to  exist,  although  the  external  reality 
which  causes  these  groups  of  sensations  would  still  exist. 
To  beings  organized  differently  from  ourselves — so  differ- 
ently that  their  mode  of  being  could  not  be  conceived  by 
us — the  objective  reality  might  give  rise  to  states  of  which 
the  word  "  matter "  would  to  our  minds  convey  no  idea. 
Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  we  have  sensations  that  come  and 
go  independently  of  our  volitions  is  evidence  of  something 
that  determines  them.  The  doctrine  of  the  relativity  of 
knowledge  necessitates  the  postulation  of  an  unknowable 
existence  beyond  consciousness. 

Aerial  vibrations  communicated  to  the  acoustic  nerve 
give  rise  to  the  sensation  known  as  sound.  Without  a  nerve 
of  hearing  there  can  be  no  sound ;  for  sound  is  a  sensible 
phenomenon  and  not  something  external  to  the  hearer. 
Color  is  also  a  subjective  affection;  and  particular  colors 
depend  upon  the  particular  velocities  of  the  waves  of  atten- 
uated matter  gathered  together  by  the  optical  apparatus  of 
the  eye,  and  which  impinge  upon  the  retina,  affecting  the 
optic  nerve  and  giving  rise  to  what  appear  objectively  as 
colors — blue,  green,  violet,  etc. — but  which  are  known  to  be 


96  Herlert  Spe7ice7'''s  Synthetic  Pliilosophy. 

sensations  or  conscious  states.  In  some  persons,  vibrations 
as  different  in  velocity  as  those  which  commonly  cause  red- 
ness and  greenness  awaken  identical  sensations.  Luminous- 
ness  is  a  sensation  produced  by  the  action  of  waves  of  ether 
upon  the  retina  and  fibers  of  the  optic  nerve.  This  sensa- 
tion may  also  be  produced  by  a  blow  or  by  electricity,  which, 
singularly  enough,  while  it  causes  luminous  phenomena 
through  the  eye,  brought  in  contact  with  other  parts 
gives  rise  to  quite  different  sensations — sounds  in  the  ear, 
taste  in  the  mouth,  ticklings  in  the  tactile  nerves.  That 
tastes  and  odors  are  not  intrinsic  in  things  with  which  we 
associate  them  is  very  evident.  The  sweetness  of  sugar 
and  the  fragrance  of  the  rose  are  sensations  in  us  caused  by 
these  objects,  the  one  appreciated  by  the  sense  of  taste,  the 
other  by  the  sense  of  smell.  Heat,  too,  is  a  sensation,  and 
is  conceivable  objectively  only  as  a  mode  of  motion. 

Another  quality  which  we  ascribe  to  things  is  hardness ; 
but  hardness  can  not  be  intelligently  conceived  except  as  a 
feeling.  When  we  say  that  a  stone  is  hard  we  mean  that, 
if  we  press  against  it,  we  experience  a  sensation  of  touch, 
a  feeling  of  resistance,  which  is  designated  by  the  word 
"  hardness."  To  illustrate  that  both  hardness  and  form  be- 
long to  the  groups  of  our  conscious  states  which  we  call 
sensations  of  sight  and  touch  Huxley  observes :  "  If  the  sur- 
face of  the  cornea  were  cylindrical  we  should  have  a  very 
different  notion  of  a  round  body  from  that  which  we  possess 
now ;  and  if  the  strength  of  the  fabric  and  the  force  of  the 
muscles  of  the  body  were  increased  a  hundredfold,  our  mar- 
ble would  seem  to  be  as  soft  as  a  pellet  of  bread  crumbs." 
What  we  call  impenetrability  is  the  consciousness  of  exten- 
sion and  the  consciousness  of  resistance  constantly  accom- 
panying one  another.  What  we  call  extension  is  a  con- 
sciousness of  relation  between  two  or  more  coexistent  states 
produced  through  the  sense  of  sight  or  the  sense  of  touch. 
Even  the  conception  of  vibrations  among  particles  of  mat- 
ter, mentioned  above  as  objective  factors  in  the  i)roduction 
of  sound  and  color,  is  but  an  inference  from  states  of  con- 
sciousness caused  in  us  by  vibrations  which  have  been  ap- 
preciated by  the  optic  or  tactile  nerves  ;  in  other  words,  by 
subjective  experiences  produced  in  us  by  some  unknown 
cause. 

Thus,  what  are  popularly  believed  to  be  qualities  and 
states  of  matter — sound,  color,  odor,  taste,  hardness,  exten- 
sion,  and  motion — are  names  for  different  ways  in  which 


Herlert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Pliilosopliy.  97 

our  consciousness  is  affected;  and,  were  "we  destitute  of 
hearing,  sight,  smell,  taste,  and  touch,  the  supposed  quali- 
ties of  matter  would  not,  so  far  as  we  can  know  or  conceive, 
have  any  existence  whatever,  for  by  psychological  analysis 
they  are  reducible  to  states  of  consciousness. 

As  to  space  and  time,  whether  we  regard  them  with  Kant 
as  forms  of  sensibility  belonging  to  the  subject  and  not  to 
the  object,  or  adopt  Spencer's  theory  that  space  is  the  ab- 
stract of  all  relations  of  position  among  coexistent  states  of 
consciousness  or  the  blank  form  of  all  these  relations,  and 
that  time  is  the  abstract  of  all  relations  of  position  among 
successive  states  of  consciousness  or  the  blank  form  in  which 
they  are  presented  and  represented,  and  that  both  classes  of 
relations  are  predetermined  in  the  individual,  so  far  as  the 
inherited  organization  is  developed,  when  it  comes  into 
acti^^ty,  while  both  have  been  developed  in  the  race  and  are 
resolvable  into  relations,  coexistent  and  sequent,  between  sub- 
ject and  object  as  disclosed  by  the  act  of  touch — whichever 
of  these  theories  we  adopt  or  whatever  theory  be  affirmed, 
still  we  know  sj^ace  and  time  only  as  subjective  forms,  not 
as  external  realities.  Both  space  relations  and  time  rela- 
tions vary  with  structural  organization,  position,  vital  activ- 
ity, mental  development,  and  condition. 

How  great  in  childhood  seemed  the  height  and  mass  of 
buildings  which  now  seem  small  or  of  but  moderate  size  ! 
How  long  the  days  seemed  when  we  were  young !  How 
short  now!  How  rapidly  time  passes  in  agreeable  company, 
how  slowly  in  waiting  for  a  delayed  train !  That  there  is 
equality  or  likeness  between  our  differently  estimated 
lengths  of  distance  or  duration — but  so  many  variations  of 
subjective  relations — and  any  nexus  of  external  things  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe. 

Inability  to  banish  from  the  mind  the  idea  of  space  illus- 
trates Spencer's  prime  test  of  truth — viz.,  the  inconceiva- 
bility of  the  negation  of  a  proposition.  "  If  space  be  an 
universal  form  of  the  non-cfjo,  it  must  produce  some  corre- 
sponding universal  form  of  the  ego — a  form  which,  as  being 
the  constant  element  of  all  impressions  presented  in  experi- 
ence, and  therefore  of  all  im]n'essions  rej)resented  in  thought, 
is  independent  of  every  jjcniicular  impression ;  and  conse- 
quently remains  when  every  particular  impression  is  as  far 
as  possible  banished."  Space  intuitions  are  "  the  fixed  func- 
tions of  fixed  structures  that  have  become  molded  into  corre- 
S2)ondence  with  fixed  outer  relations  "  pre-established  so  far 
8 


98  Herhert  Spencefs  Synthetic  PJiilosophy. 

as  the  inherited  organization  is  developed  at  the  time  it 
comes  into  activity.  Thus  the  consciousness  of  space  is 
reached  through  a  process  of  evolution. 

But  does  not  the  mind  possess  a  synthetic  power  by  which 
it  can  put  together  the  materials  furnished  by  the  senses, 
and  thus  enable  us  to  realize  and  understand  the  objective 
world  as  it  actually  exists?  Is  there  not  in  the  mind  a 
faculty  by  which  we  can  discover  relations  as  they  are  be- 
yond consciousness  ?  If  we  do  not  know  the  nature  of  nou- 
menal  existence,  we  can  not  know  anything  about  its  rela- 
tions. Kant  dwelt  upon  this  subject  for  years ;  and,  although 
he  believed  in  an  existence  transcending  sense  and  under- 
standing, the  conclusion  of  his  years  of  laborious  thought 
was  that  we  can  only  put  together  the  materials  furnished 
by  the  senses,  and  that  we  can  know  nothing  of  the  world 
as  it  exists,  unmodified  by  and  independent  of  conscious- 
ness. To  the  same  conclusion,  after  years  of  profound 
thought,  came  Herbert  Spencer. 

Mr.  Spencer  holds  that  things  in  themselves  are  not  per- 
ceived, yet  that  they  correspond  with  perceptions,  and  are 
known  symbolically  only  ;  that  "  there  exist  beyond  con- 
sciousness conditions  of  objective  manifestation  which  are 
symbolized  by  relations  as  we  conceive  them."  The  object- 
ive existences  and  conditions  which  remain  as  the  final 
necessity  of  thought  arc  tlie  correlatives  of  our  feelings  and 
the  relations  between  them.  There  is  no  valid  reason  for  the 
belief  that  the  objective  existence  is  what  it  appears  to  be, 
nor  for  the  belief  that  the  connections  among  its  modes  are 
what  they  seem  in  consciousness.  There  is  congruity,  but  not 
resemblance,  between  the  external  and  the  internal  order. 

"  Inner  thoughts,"  says  Spencer,  "  answer  to  outer  things 
in  such  wise  that  cohesions  in  the  one  correspond  to  persist- 
ences in  the  other,"  but  this  correspondence  is  only  sym- 
bolical. Such,  briefly  stated,  is  the  view  which,  in  distinc- 
tion to  crude  realism  and  idealism,  is  called  Transfigured 
Realism.  "  It  recognizes,"  to  quote  again  from  the  great 
thinker,  "an  external,  independent  existence  which  is  the 
cause  of  changes  in  consciousness,  while  the  effects  it  works 
in  consciousness  constitute  the  perception  of  it ;  and  the 
inference  is  that  tlie  knowledge  constituted  by  these  effects 
can  not  be  a  knowledge  of  that  which  causes  them,  but  can 
only  imply  its  existence.  May  it  not  be  said  that  in  thus  in- 
terpreting itself  subjective  existence  makes  definite  that  dif- 
ferentiation from  objective  existence  which  has  been  going 


Herbert  Spencerh  Synthetic  Philosophy.  99 

on  from  the  beginning  of  evolution  ?  "  (Spencer's  Principles 
of  Psychology,  vol.  ii,  p.  555.) 

What  may  be  called,  with  propriety,  Relationism,  the  doc- 
trine that  we  know  objective  relations  as  they  actually  exist, 
belongs  to  crude  realism,  and  it  has  no  philosophical  basis 
whatever.  The  theory  that  the  intellect  alone  constitutes 
relations,  that  we  intellectually  reconstitute  and  therefore 
understand  the  relations  making  up  the  noumenal  constitu- 
tion of  things,  is  an  old  conception,  sometimes  put  forward 
in  these  later  days  as  original,  in  a  phraseology  which  at 
first  makes  difficult  the  immediate  discovery  of  its  identity 
with  a  system  that  has  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and 
found  wanting.  One  of  these  relational  philosophers  main- 
tains that  space  relations  belong  to  the  noumenal  world. 
But  these  are  relations  constituted  by  the  facts  of  sensibility, 
and  the  theorist  referred  to  does  not  allow  sensibility  to 
contribute  to  knowledge.  He  can  not,  therefore,  consist- 
ently maintain  that  space  relations  are  knowingly  apper- 
ceived  by  us. 

Although  there  seems  to  be  almost  a  complete  unanimity 
among  the  great  thinkers  of  the  world  that  we  can  form  no 
conception  of  the  objective  world  apart  from  the  conditions 
imposed  upon  it  by  our  intelligence,  and  that  changes  of 
consciousness  are  the  materials  out  of  which  our  knowledge 
is  entirely  built,  let  no  one  hastily  conclude  that  there  is 
anything  in  this  position  inimical  to,  or  inconsistent  with, 
what  is  called  "  objective  science."  Prof.  Huxley,  one  of 
the  greatest  of  living  scientists  and  a  philosophic  thinker 
of  no  mean  ability,  pursuing  the  "  scientific  method  "  with 
which  he  is  supposed  to  be  well  acquainted,  comes  to  the 
conclusion  "  that  all  the  phenomena  are,  in  tlieir  ultimate 
analysis,  known  to  us  only  as  facts  of  consciousness." 

George  Henry  Lewes,  eminent  as  a  physiologist  and  psy- 
chologist, as  well  as  a  remarkably  acute  analytical  thinker, 
declares,  in  his  Problems  of  Life  and  Mind  :  "  Wliether  we 
affirm  the  objective  existence  of  something  distinct  from  the 
affections  of  consciousness  or  affirm  that  this  object  is  simply 
a  reflection  from  consciousness,  in  either  case  we  declare 
that  the  objective  world  is  to  each  man  the  sum  of  his  vis- 
ionary experience — an  existence  bounded  on  all  sides  by 
wliat  he  feels  and  thinks — a  form  sliaped  by  the  reaction  of 
his  organism.  The  world  is  the  sum  total  of  phenomena, 
and  phenomena  are  affections  of  consciousness  with  exter- 
nal signs  "  (vol.  i,  p.  183). 


100  Herlert  Speiicer^s  Synthetic  PliilosopJiy. 

Dr.  Maudsley,  the  distinguished  physiologist,  who  is  no 
more  than  Spencer  or  Lewes  a  subjectivist  or  idealist — who, 
indeed,  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  materialist — says :  "After 
all,  the  world  which  we  apprehend  when  we  are  aAvake  may 
have  as  little  resemblance  or  relation  to  the  external  world, 
of  which  we  can  have  no  manner  of  apprehension  through 
our  senses,  as  the  dream-world  has  to  the  world  with  which 
our  senses  make  us  acquainted ;  nay,  perhaps  less,  since 
there  is  some  resemblance  in  the  latter  case,  and  there  may 
be  none  whatever  in  the  former.  .  .  .  The  external  world 
as  it  is  in  itself  may  not  be  in  the  least  what  we  conceive 
it  through  our  forms  of  perception  and  modes  of  thought. 
No  prior  experience  of  it  has  ever  been  so  much  as  possible ; 
and  therefore  the  analogy  of  the  dreamer  is  altogether  de- 
fective in  that  respect"  (Body  and  AVill,  p.  51). 

Now  Mr.  Spencer's  conclusions  from  relativity  are  in  or- 
der. He  says :  "  If,  after  finding  that  the  same  tepid  water 
may  feel  warm  to  one  hand  and  cold  to  another,  it  is  in- 
ferred that  warmth  is  relative  to  our  nature  and  our  own 
state,  the  inference  is  valid,  only  supposing  the  activity  to 
which  these  different  sensations  are  referred  is  an  activity 
out  of  ourselves,  which  has  not  been  modified  by  our  own 
activities. 

"  When  we  are  taught  that  a  piece  of  matter,  regarded  by 
us  as  existing  externally,  can  not  be  really  known,  but  that 
we  can  know  only  certain  impressions  produced  on  us,  we 
are  yet,  by  the  relativity  of  our  thought,  compelled  to  think 
of  a  positive  cause.  The  notion  of  a  real  existence  which 
generated  these  impressions  becomes  nascent.  The  momen- 
tum of  thought  inevitably  carries  us  beyond  conditioned 
existence  to  unconditioned  existence  ;  and  this  ever  persists 
in  us  as  the  body  of  a  thought  to  which  we  can  give  no 
shape.  ...  At  the  same  time  that,  by  the  laws  of  thought, 
we  are  rigorously  prevented  from  forming  a  conception  of 
absolute  existence,  we  are,  by  the  laws  of  thought,  prevent- 
ed from  ridding  ourselves  of  the  consciousness  of  absolute 
existence,  this  unconsciousness  being,  as  we  see,  the  obverse 
of  absolute  existence"  (First  Principles,  p.  390). 

The  absolute  existence,  then,  can  be  known  only  as  it  is 
manifested  in  consciousness,  only  as  it  is  colored  and  modi- 
fied, so  to  speak,  by  the  conditions  of  the  organism.  It  can 
not  be  identified  with  what  we  call  matter,  for  tliat  we  know 
only  as  a  series  of  ])henomenal  manifestations,  or,  psycho- 
logically speaking,  only  as  the  coexistent  states  of  conscious- 


Herlert  S_penccr''s  Synthetic  Philosophy.         101 

ness,  whicli  "we  call  resistance,  extension,  color,  sound,  or 
odor.  It  can  not  be  identified  with  mind,  for  that  we  know 
only  as  the  series  of  our  own  states  of  consciousness. 

Says  Spencer :  "  If  I  am  asked  to  frame  a  notion  of  mind, 
divested  of  all  those  structural  traits  under  which  alone  I 
am  conscious  of  mind  in  myself,  I  can  not  do  it.  .  .  .  If, 
then,  I  have  to  conceive  evolution  as  caused  by  an  '  originat- 
ing mind,'  I  must  conceive  this  mind  as  having  attributes 
akin  to  those  of  the  only  mind  I  know,  and  without  which 
I  can  not  conceive  mind  at  all.  ...  I  can  not  think  of  a 
single  series  of  states  of  consciousness  as  causing  even  the 
relatively  small  groups  of  action  going  on  over  the  earth's 
surface.  .  .  .  How,  then,  is  it  possible  for  me  to  conceive 
an  '  original  mind,'  which  I  must  represent  to  myself  as  a 
single  series  of  states  of  consciousness,  working  the  infinitely 
multiplied  sets  of  changes  simultaneously  going  on  in  worlds 
too  numerous  to  count,  dispersed  throughout  a  space  that 
baffles  imagination?  If  to  account  for  this  infinitude  of 
changes  evervwhere  going  on  '  mind '  must  be  conceived  as 
there  under  the  guise  of  simple  dynamics,  then  the  reply  is 
that,  to  be  so  conceived,  mind  must  be  divested  of  all  attri- 
butes by  which  it  is  distinguished,  and  that  when  thus 
divested  of  its  distinguishing  attributes  the  conception  dis- 
appears, the  word  '  mind '  stands  for  a  blank." 

According  to  Spencer,  force,  matter,  space,  time,  motion, 
are  but  forms  which  the  indeterminate  substance  assumes 
in  consciousness.  But  matter  and  movement  he  reduces — 
as  is  sufficiently  evident  from  the  foregoing — to  manifesta- 
tions of  force ;  and  space  and  time  are  cohesions — one  of 
coexistence,  the  other  of  succession — in  the  manifestations 
of  force.  Force  then  remains  the  primary  datum,  but  that 
we  know  only  as  states  of  consciousness — in  other  words,  as 
the  changes  in  us  produced  by  an  absolute  reality  of  which 
in  itself  we  know  nothing. 

It  may  be  well  to  illustrate  a  little  more  fully  that,  ac- 
cording to  Spencer,  we  know  matter  only  as  co-existent  states 
of  consciousness  :  "  A  Avhiff  of  ammonia  coming  in  contact 
with  the  eyes  produces  a  smart,  getting  into  the  nostrils 
excites  the  consciousness  we  described  as  an  intolerably 
strong  odor,  being  condensed  on  the  tongue  generates  an 
acrid  taste,  while  ammonia  applied  in  solution  to  a  tender 
part  of  the  skin  makes  it  burn,  as  we  say."  This  illustra- 
tion from  Spencer's  Principles  of  Psychology  shows  that 
one  and  the  same  external  agency  produces  in  us  different 


103  Herlert  Spencer's  Synthetic  Pliilosophy, 

sensations,  according  to  the  avenues  through  which  it  affects 
our  consciousness.  Which  of  these  feelings,  so  widely  dif- 
ferent, does  the  external  cause  resemble  ?  Probably  none 
of  them.  What  it  is,  independently  of  consciousness,  we 
never  can  know,  owing  to  limitations  imposed  by  the  very 
constitution  of  the  human  mind. 

The  effects  produced  on  our  consciousness — different  feel- 
ings— can  be  compared  and  classified ;  but  how  can  we  com- 
pare and  classify  that  of  which  nothing  can  be  known  ? 

Knowledge  consists  in  the  classification  of  experiences. 
We  observe  distinctions  existing  between  phenomena,  and 
group  together  those  that  are  similar.  Anything  newly  dis- 
covered is  known  only  when  it  can  be  classed  with  some 
other  thing  which  is  known ;  in  other  words,  only  when  the 
impressions  it  produces  can  be  recognized  as  belonging  to 
an  existing  group  of  impressions.  "  Whence  it  is  manifest 
that  a  thing  is  perfectly  known  when  it  is  in  all  respects 
like  certain  things  previously  observed ;  that  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  respects  in  which  it  is  unlike  them  is  the 
extent  to  which  it  is  unknown  ;  and  that  hence,  when  it  has 
absolutely  no  attribute  in  common  with  anything  else,  it 
must  be  absolutely  beyond  the  bounds  of  knowledge."  With- 
out distinction,  which  implies  limitation,  of  course,  knowl- 
edge would  be  impossible.  All  that  we  can  compare  and 
classify  are  phenomena,  between  which  are  distinguishable 
various  degrees  of  likeness  and  unlikeness.  These  phenom- 
ena are  effects  produced  in  us  by  that  which  is  manifested 
objectively  as  matter  and  force,  and  subjectively  as  feeling 
and  thought.  We  can  think  of  matter  only  in  terms  of 
mind,  as,  indeed,  we  can  think  of  mind  only  in  terms  of 
matter.  I^hat  of  which  both  are  manifestations  can  not  be 
known.  "  The  antithesis  of  subject  and  object,"  says  Spen- 
cer, "  never  to  be  transcended  while  consciousness  lasts,  ren- 
ders impossible  all  knowledge  of  that  ultimate  reality  in 
which  subject  and  object  are  united." 

There  are  those  who,  after  making  use  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  relativity  of  knowledge  to  prove  that  we  know  only  our 
conscious  states,  deny  or  question  the  existence  of  any  ob- 
jective reality  that  produces  these  states.  But  relativity 
Implies  object  as  well  as  subject,  and  it  would  have  no 
meaning  unless  there  were  existence,  known  only  as  it  affects 
us  and  unknown  as  pure  object.  The  statement  that  a 
house  of  a  certain  size,  form,  color,  etc.,  is  what  it  is  con- 
ceived to  be  only  in  relation  to  consciousness,  implies  that 


Herbert  Spencer^s  SyntTietic  Philosophy.  103 

there  is  something  beyond  consciousness  that  exists  per  se, 
and  that,  as  such,  it  is  unknown.  The  statement  that  knowl- 
edge is  relative  involves  the  statement  that  there  is  absolute 
existence — existence  that  does  not  depend  upon  our  con- 
sciousness, and  of  which  we  know  only  its  effects  upon  us. 
If,  in  asserting  the  relativity  of  knowledge,  we  do  not  postu- 
late absolute  existence,  the  relative  itself  becomes  absolute ; 
and  that  involves  a  contradiction  of  the  doctrine  of  rela- 
tivity— the  very  indisputable  doctrine  by  which  the  so-called 
qualities  of  matter  are  shown  to  be  sensible  phenomena. 

An  oyster  is  conceived  as  having  some  vague  sort  of  con- 
sciousness of  its  environment.  In  this  consciousness  man 
is  not  included.  If  we  conceive  the  oyster  as  a  creature  out 
of  whose  consciousness  we  exist,  is  it  not  a  trifle  absurd  to 
say  that  there  is  no  objective  reality ;  that  our  conception 
of  the  oyster,  instead  of  being  the  product  of  tlie  co-opera- 
tion of  the  mind  with  an  external  something,  is  only  one 
of  the  modifications  of  ourselves,  uncaused  by  anything  ex- 
isting objectively ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  oyster  exists  only 
in  our  own  minds?  And  other  human  beings  than  our- 
selves can  only  be  regarded  as  but  so  many  modifications  of 
our  own  consciousness.  The  truth  is  that,  while  we  know- 
directly  only  our  own  conscious  states — the  material  out  of 
which  is  woven  all  thought — we  know  by  inference  other 
human  beings,  although,  of  course,  relatively  only;  and 
that  which  is  not  known  is  the  reality  which  awakens  in 
us  all  similarly  perceptive  activity. 

The  conviction  "  that  human  intelligence  is  incapable  of 
absolute  knowledge,"  says  Spencer,  "  is  one  that  has  been 
slowly  gaining  ground  as  civilization  has  advanced.  .  .  .  All 
possible  conceptions  have  been,  one  by  one,  tried  and  found 
wanting ;  and  so  the  entire  field  of  speculation  has  been 
gradually  exhausted  without  positive  result,  the  only  one 
arrived  at  being  the  negative  one  above  stated — that  the 
reality  existing  behind  all  appearances  is,  and  must  ever  be, 
unknown.  To  this  conclusion  almost  every  thinker  of  note 
has  subscribed.  'With  the  exception,'  says  Sir  AVilliam 
Hamilton,  '  of  a  few  late  absolutist  theorizers  in  Germany, 
this  is,  perhaps,  the  truth  of  all  others  most  harmoniously 
re-echoed  by  every  philosopher  of  every  school.' " 

To  Herbert  Spencer  belongs  the  great  credit  of  having 
formulated  the  principles  of  universal  evolution  and  shown 
that  what  von  Baer  demonstrated  to  be  true  in  the  develop- 
ment of  an  animal  is  true  of  worlds,  of  all  life,  of  society, 


104         Herbert  Speucer^s  Synthetic  PhilosopJiy. 

of  all  thought,  of  language,  religion,  literature,  government, 
art,  science,  philosophy,  etc, — viz.,  that  progress  is  from  a 
homogeneous,  indefinite,  incoherent  condition  to  the  hetero- 
geneous, definite,  and  coherent  condition.  The  rhythm  of 
evolution  and  dissolution,  completing  itself  during  short 
periods  in  small  aggregates,  and  in  the  vast  aggregate  dis- 
tributed through  space  completing  itself  in  periods  which 
are  immeasurable  by  human  thought,  is,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  universal  and  eternal,  each  alternating  phase  of  the  pro- 
cess predominating,  now  in  this  region  of  space,  and  now  in 
that,  as  local  conditions  determine. 

Von  Baer,  and  doubtless  others  before  Spencer,  had 
glimpses  of  this  law  beyond  its  application  to  organic  de- 
velopment, but  it  required  the  cyclopffidiac  knowledge,  ])hilo- 
sophic  genius,  and  synthetical  powers  of  a  Spencer  to  illus- 
trate and  prove  the  law  of  universal  evolution,  as  it  re- 
quired a  Darwin  to  establish  the  principle  of  natural  selec- 
tion. Von  Baer,  as  a  writer  in  the  Encyclopa.Hlia  Britannica 
says,  "  prepared  the  way  for  Mr  Spencer's  generalization  of 
the  law  of  organic  evolution  as  the  law  of  all  evolution." 
But  this  fact  no  more  lessens  the  credit  due  Spencer  for 
his  great  contributions  to  thought  tlian  the  fact  that  many 
investigators  prepared  the  way  for  Darwin's  researches  di- 
minishes the  credit  to  which  the  great  naturalist  is  fairly 
entitled. 

"  A  great  method  is  always  within  the  perception  of 
many,"  says  De  Morgan,  "  before  it  is  within  the  grasp  of 
one."  Prof.  Owen,  the  paleontologist,  expressed  himself, 
in  correspondence  with  the  editor  of  the  London  Review, 
80  as  to  convey  the  impression — which  he  afterward  said 
was  not  intended — that  he  claimed  to  have  promulgated 
the  theory  of  natural  selection  before  Darwin  had  done  so. 
This  led  Darwin  to  say :  "  As  far  as  the  mere  enunciation 
of  the  principle  of  natural  selection  is  concerned,  it  is  quite 
immaterial  whether  or  not  Prof.  Owen  preceded  me,  for 
both  of  us,  as  shown  in  this  historical  sketch,  were  long  ago 
preceded  by  Dr.  Wells  and  Mr.  iMathew."  Darwin  quotes 
even  from  Aristotle's  Physical  Auscultations,  and  adds: 
"  We  here  see  the  princi])le  of  natural  selection  shadowed 
forth,"  etc.  Doubtless  many  had  thouf;jht  of  the  principle 
of  natural  selection,  but  they  lacked  the  knowledge  to  under- 
stand it  with  its  many  implications,  the  wonderful  powers 
of  patient  observation  and  laborious  experimental  investiga- 
tion necessary  to  the  study  of  details,  and  the  verification 


Herbert  Spencer^ s  Synthetic  Philosophy.         105 

of  what  "was  conjectured  or  but  dimly  perceived,  as  well  as 
the  wonderful  powers  of  generalization  required  to  classify 
the  multitude  of  facts  and  bring  them  together  in  a  com- 
prehensive unity  so  as  to  make  clear  and  certain  the  princi- 
ple underlying  them.  These  qualifications  were  possessed 
in  an  eminent  degree  by  Darwin,  and  they  enabled  him  to 
prove  what  others  had  but  imagined — to  show  that  natural 
selection  was  a  great  factor  in  evolution,  and  to  put  or- 
ganic evolution  upon  an  impregnable  foundation.  But  Dar- 
win's work  would  not  have  been  possible  if  the  labors  of 
others  had  not  led  up  to  them,  and  the  acceptance  of  evo- 
lution would  have  remained  confined  to  but  a  few  if  the 
scientific  mind  had  not  been,  through  the  work  of  others, 
prepared  for  the  change.  Bufion,  Lamarck,  Geoffroy  Saint- 
Hilaire,  Goethe,  Erasmus  Darwin,  the  author  of  the  Ves- 
tiges, with  others,  are  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  helped 
to  prepare  the  way  for  Darwin's  work  and  for  the  adoption, 
with  comparatively  little  ojiposition,  of  the  doctrine  of  de- 
velopment in  the  place  of  belief  in  special  creations.  Yet 
Darwin's  name  will  be  forever  identified  with  natural  selec- 
tion. 

And  as  Prof.  Youmans  says :  "  The  same  ethical  canons 
of  research  .  .  .  which  gave  to  Copernicus  the  glory  of  the 
heliocentric  astronomy,  to  Newton  that  of  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation, to  Harvey  that  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  to 
Priestley  that  of  the  discovery  of  oxygen,  and  to  Darwin  that 
of  natural  selection,  will  also  give  to  Herbert  Spencer  the 
honor  of  having  first  elucidated  and  established  the  law  of 
universal  evolution." 

Prof.  Huxley,  in  his  Survey  of  Fifty  Years  of  Progress, 
says  :  "  Evolution  as  a  philosophical  doctrine  applicable  to 
all  phenomena,  whether  physical  or  mental,  whether  mani- 
fested by  material  atoms  or  by  men  in  society,  has  been 
dealt  with  systematically  in  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  of 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.  Comment  on  that  great  undertaking 
would  not  be  in  place  here.  I  mention  it  because,  so  far  as 
I  know,  it  is  the  first  attempt  to  deal  on  scientific  princi- 
ples with  modern  scientific  facts  and  speculations.  For 
the  Philosophic  Positive  of  M.  Comte,  with  which  Mr. 
Spencer's  system  of  philosophy  is  sometimes  compared,  al- 
though it  professes  a  similar  object,  is  unfortunately  per- 
meated by  a  thoroughly  unscientific  spirit,  and  its  author  had 
no  adequate  acquaintance  with  the  physical  science  even  of 
his  own  time." 


lOG  Herlert  Spencer's  Sijnihdid  Philosophy.  . 

I  will  now  endeavor  to  give  a  brief  synopsis  of  Mr.  Spen- 
per's  doctrine  of  evolution. 

1.  Under  the  appearances  which  the  universe  presents  to 
our  senses,  there  persists,  unchanging  in  quantity  but  ever 
changing  in  form  and  ever  transcending  human  knowledge 
and  conception,  an  unknown  and  unknowable  power  or  real- 
ity, which  we  are  obliged  to  recognize  as  without  limit  in 
space  and  without  beginning  or  end  in  time. 

Matter,  motion,  space,  and  time  are  forms  which  the  un- 
knowable reality  assumes  in  consciousness.  Matter  and 
motion  are  manifestations  of  force,  and  space  and  time  are 
cohesions — one  of  coexistence,  the  other  of  succession — in 
the  manifestation  of  force.  Force,  then,  is  the  primary  da- 
tum, but  that  we  only  know  as  states  of  consciousness ;  in 
other  words,  as  the  changes  in  us  produced  by  an  unknow- 
able reality,  of  which  our  conceptions  of  matter  and  mo- 
tion are  symbols.  That  which  appears  to  be,  outside  of  con- 
sciousness, as  matter  and  force,  is  the  same  _  as  that  Avhich 
appears  in  consciousness  as  thought  and  feeling.  In  Spen- 
cer's own  language:  "A  power  of  which  the  nature  re- 
mains forever  inconceivable,  and  to  which  no  limit  in  time 
and  space  can  be  imagined,  works  in  us  certain  effects. 
These  effects  have  certain  likenesses  of  kind,  the  most  gen- 
eral of  which  we  class  under  the  names  of  matter  and 
force,  and  between  these  effects  there  are  likenesses  of  kind, 
the  most  constant  of  which  we  class  as  laws  of  the  highest 
certainty." 

2.  The  field  of  science  and  philosophy  is  in  the  phenome- 
nal world.  It  is  the  function  of  philosophy  to  give  to  knowl- 
edge a  unity  that  shall  comprehend  the  fundamental  truths 
of  all  the  sciences,  as  the  general  definitions  and  proposi- 
tions of  each  include  all  the  diversified  phenomena  of  its 
recognized  province.  The  sciences  deal  with  different  orders 
of  phenomena,  and  their  formulae  are  those  which  express 
the  changes  and  relations  of  these  orders  respectively.  Phi- 
losophy is  a  synthesis  of  all  these  sciences  into  a  universal 
system. 

3.  Force  is  persistent,  and  is  revealed  to  us  under  the  two 
opposite  modes  of  attraction  and  expansion — in  the  ceaseless 
redistribution  of  matter  and  motion,  wliich  extends  tlirough- 
out  tiie  universe,  involving,  on  the  one  hand,  the  integra- 
tion of  matter  and  the  dissipation  of  motion,  and  on  the 
other  a  disintegration  of  matter  and  aljsorption  of  motion. 

4.  Where  the  integration  of  matter  and  the  dissipation 


Herhert  Spencefs  Synthetic  Philosophy.  107 

of  motion  predominate,  there  is  evolution.  Where  there  is 
a  predominant  disintegration  of  matter  and  absorption  of 
motion,  there  is  dissolution.  In  that  portion  of  the  universe 
observable  by  us  attraction  predominates  now,  as  seen  in  the 
integration  of  matter  and  the  evolution  of  forms.  In  other 
regions  expansion  may  exceed  attraction,  dissolution  may 
predominate  over  evolution.  In  ages  inconceivably  remote, 
the  elements  of  our  system,  now  undergoing  evolution,  were 
doubtless  subject  to  the  opposite  process.  Every  condition 
grows  out  of  pre-existent  conditions. 

5.  Of  beginning  there  is  no  indication.  The  evolution  of 
a  world  from  the  "  chaos  "  of  star-dust  involves  a  "  begin- 
ning "  only  as  the  formation  of  a  crystal  from  the  "  chaos  " 
of  a  solution  implies  a  beginning.  There  is,  according  to 
Spencer's  philosophy,  as  little  need  of  a  "  supernatural  fac- 
tor "  to  explain  evolution  as  there  is  to  explain  the  opposite 
process,  dissolution;  and  one  is  as  little  indication  of  a 
"  beginning  "  as  the  other,  except  the  word  "  beginning  " 
be  applied  to  certain  rhythms  of  motion,  certain  manifesta- 
tions of  force,  certain  forms  of  matter,  which,  nevertheless, 
were  preceded  by  and  sprang  from  other  rhytlims,  manifes- 
tations, and  forms,  all  due  to  and  dependent  upon  self-ex- 
istent, inscrutable  power.  As  Spencer  said,  in  reply  to  a 
critic :  "  The  affirmation  of  a  universal  evolution  is  in 
itself  the  negation  of  an  '  absolute  commencement '  of 
anything.  Construed  in '  terms  of  evolution,  every  kind  of 
being  is  conceived  as  a  product  of  modifications,  wrought 
by  insensible  gradations  on  a  pre-existing  kind  of  being; 
and  this  holds  as  fully  of  the  supposed  '  commencement  of 
organic  life '  as  of  all  subsequent  development  of  organic 
life." 

6.  When  the  formation  of  an  aggregate  proceeds  uncom- 
plicated by  secondary  processes,  as  in  the  crystallization  of 
carbon  into  a  diamond,  evolution  is  simple. 

7.  When,  in  tlie  process  of  evolution,  there  are  secondary 
rearrangements  of  matter,  and  sufficient  retained  motion  to 
admit  a  redistribution  among  the  parts  of  the  body — as,  for 
instance,  in  the  growth  of  an  animal — there  is  exemplified 
not  only  the  integration  of  matter  and  the  dissipation  ofi 
motion,  the  primary  law  of  evolution,  but  also  an  increase' 
of  complexity.  When  this  is  accompanied  with  increased 
coherence,  definiteness,  and  mutual  dependence  of  parts,  and 
the  subordination  of  the  parts  to  the  movements  of  the 
whole  structure,  there  is  progress.    Thus  we  have  evolution 


108  Herlert  Spencer's  Syntlietic  Pliilosophy. 

as  a  double  process— a  movement  toward  unity  as  well  as 

diversity.  -,  •    mi. 

The  following  is  from  an  article  which  appeared  m  ihe 
Index  (Boston),  in  1880,  in  which  I  reviewed  at  consider- 
able length  Prof.  Van  Buren  Denslow's  essay  on  Herbert 
Spencer,  contained  in  his  work  entitled  Modern  Thinkers : 

Prof  Denslow  says :  "  Given  space,  matter,  force,  motion,  and  time 
as  the  factors,  would  all  progress  be  found  to  consist  in  evolution  of 
forra^  organisms,  motions,  and  activities  from  the  homogeneous  or 
simple  into  the  heterogeneous  ?  It  must  be  conceded  that  the  array  of 
instances  in  which  this  is  true  dazzles  and  almost  bewilders  the  im- 
a'-ination  by  its  variety  and  beauty.  ...  But  if  it  shall  appear  that 
each  instance  he  (Spencer)  adduces  as  an  illustration  of  differentiation 
of  the  simple  into  the  complex  also  illustrates  a  unification  of  previ- 
ously differentiated  and  diverse  elements  into  one  simple  and  homo- 
geneous entitv  or  substance,  is  it  quite  clear  that  we  have  made  an^ 
advance  in  our  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  universal  science  il 

(pp.  218,  222).  ,  ^  o  . 

To  strengthen  his  objection,  the  author  selects  one  of  Spencer  s  own 
illustrations,  f urnislied  bv  the  differentiation  of  the  bean  seed  "  into 
vine,  leaf,  blossom,  and  ultimately  the  new  fruit,"  and  calls  attention 
to  what  he  declares  is  a  fact— that  this  process  equally  illustrates  the 
unification  of  diverse  elements  into  one  homogeneous  substance. 

That  in  the  growth  of  the  bean  plant  diverse  elements  are  united  in 
one  structure  is  verv  evident ;  but  the  correctness  of  characterizing  as 
a  "  homoo-eneous  entitv"  a  complex  production,  in  which  several  ele- 
ments united  in  different  proportions  have  produced  all  the  variety 
afforded  by  the  root,  vine,  leaf,  blossom,  and  fruit  of  a  bean  plant,  is 
by  no  means  apparent.  On  the  contrary,  a  bean  plant  is,  in  substance, 
as  well  as  in  form  and  activitv,  a  very  heterogeneous  stracture.  ihe 
chemical  differentiations  produced  in  plants  generally  by  rearrange- 
ments of  the  chemical  elements  and  by  modification  of  tissues  and 
organs  are  well  described  bv  Spencer. 

"  In  plants,"  he  observes,  "  the  albuminous  and  amylaceous  matters 
•which  form  the  substance  of  the  embryo  give  origin  here  to  a  pre- 
ponderance of  chlorophvU  and  there  to  a  preponderance  of  cellulose. 
Over  the  parts  that  are  bocorning  leaf-surfaces,  certain  of  the  materials 
are  metamorphosed  into  wax.  In  this  place,  starch  passes  into  one  of 
its  isomeric  equivalents,  sugar,  and  in  that  place  into  another  of  its 
isomeric  equivalents,  gum.  Bv  secondary  changes,  some  of  the  cellu- 
lose is  modified  into  wood,  while  some  of  it  is  modified  into  the  allied 
substance,  which  in  large  masses  we  distinguish  as  cork.  And  the 
more  numerous  compounds  thus  gradually  arising  initiate  further  un- 
likenesses  bv  mingling  in  unlike  ratios."     (First  Principles.) 

In  the  inorganic  world  there  are  compound  substances,  like  water, 
produced  bv  the  union  of  different  elements,  whicli  to  all  appearances 
are  liomogeneous  as  to  substance  ;  but  we  nnist  not  expect  to  find  such 
homogcneitv  in  highlv  evolved  organisms  like  the  bean  plant.  And 
how  the  integration  o^  a  number  of  diverse  elements  into  one  structure 
diminishes  the  weight  of  Spencer's  claims  it  is  not  easy  to  see. 
Spencer's  primary  law  of  evolution  is  not,  as  Prof.  Denslow  seems  to 


Herlert  Spencer's  Synthetic  Pliilosojyhy.  109 

think,  change  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous,  but  the  in- 
tegration of  matter  and  concomitant  dissipation  of  motion,  which  vre 
see  exemplified  in  the  concentration  of  units  that  form  a  crystal  as 
well  as  in  the  combination  of  elements  that  compose  the  structure  of 
a  complex  organism.  And  consider  a  moment  how  the  integration  of 
matter,  the  combinations  of  several  elements  into  one  body,  gives  rise 
to  heterogeneity  and  differentiation  in  the  inorganic  as  well  as  in  the 
organic  world.  Think  of  the  different  combinations  and  transposi- 
tions of  which  the  elements  admit,  and  the  multitude  of  substances 
thus  produced.  Add  a  molecule  of  carbon  to  a  hundred  molecules  of 
iron,  and  a  peculiar  hardness  is  produced  by  the  conversion  of  the  iron 
into  steel.  Carbon  in  variously  proportioned  combinations  with  oxy- 
gen and  nitrogen  develops  the  several  properties  of  wood,  fruits, 
grain,  grasses,  tobacco,  and  opium.  Carbon  united  with  oxygen  as 
carbonic-acid  gas  combines  with  molecules  of  the  metal  calcium  in 
forming  lime-rocks  and  marbles,  the  bones  of  animals,  and  beautiful 
translucent  pearls.  A  triple  alliance  of  molecules  of  hydrogen,  oxygen, 
and  carbon  imparts  a  wonderful  diversity  of  proportion  to  a  multi- 
tude of  organic  substances,  as  wood,  vegetable  oil,  animal  flesh,  and 
fat.  Hydrogen  molecules  united  with  oxygen  are  converted  into  acids, 
and,  combined  with  nitrogen,  are  converted  into  alkaloids,  as  in  the 
formation  of  ammonia.  If  the  proportion  of  molecules  of  nitrogen 
and  oxygen  in  the  atmosphere,  composed  by  weight  of  nitrogen 
seventy-seven  and  of  oxygen  twenty-three,  be  reversed  to  oxygen 
seventy-seven  and  nitrogen  twenty-three,  nitric  acid  is  developed. 
Vinegar,  burnt  sugar,  butter,  animal  fat,  nutmeg  oil,  are  all  composed 
of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen  in  different  proportions.  Opium  and 
quinine  contain  the  same  elements  in  different  proportions.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  multiply  illustrations  to  show  that  the  union  of  diverse 
elements"  in  different  proportions  gives  us  compounds  more  or  less 
homogeneous  in  substance,  but  all  differentiated  from  one  another  as 
to  substance  as  well  as  in  form  and  motion.  The  number  of  such  sub- 
stances is  limited  only  by  the  inconceivably  immense  number  of  com- 
binations and  varving  proportions  in  which  between  sixty  and  seventy 
elements  may  unite.  So  the  combination  of  heterogeneous  elements 
in  substances  less  heterogeneous  is  a  process  by  which  variety,  differ- 
entiation, and  heterogeneity,  in  substance  as  well  as  in  form,  have 
been  produced.  Bv  this  process  has  grown,  from  a  nebulous  mass,  a 
planet  with  all  its  variety  of  water,  land,  and  sky.  fitted  for  the  habita- 
tion of  living  creatures',  themselves  an  exemplification  of  the  same 
process.     It  is  the  primary  law  of  evolution, 

8,  In  the  process  of  evolution,  increase  of  heterogeneity 
results  from  "  the  multiplication  of  effects,"  for  in  "actions 
and  reaction  of  force  and  matter  an  uulikeness  of  either  of 
the  factors  necessitates  an  unlikeness  of  the  effects,"  All 
parts  of  a  body  can  not  be  conditioned  precisely  alike  with 
reference  to  the  en-vironment,  since  the  parts  must  be  sub- 
ject to  unlike  forces  and  to  different  intensities  of  the  same 
force.  Exemplifications  of  the  instability  of  the  homogene- 
ous are  afforded  by  the  rusting  of  iron,  the  uneven  cooling 


110  Herhert  Spencer's  Syntlietic  Philosophy. 

of  molten  lead  or  sulphur,  and  the  impossibility  of  keeping 
a  body  of  water  free  from  currents.     Tlie  more  heterogene- 
ous a  body  becomes,  the  more  rapid  the  multiplication  of 
effects.     Every  event  which  involves  the  decomposition  of 
force  into  several  forces  produces  greater  complication  and 
increased  heterogeneity ;  and,  when  this  process  of  differen- 
tiation combines  with  the  process  of  integration  to  make 
the  change  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous  at 
the  same  time  as  that  from  the  indefinite  to  the  definite,  we 
have  compound  evolution.     Mere  increase  of  heterogeneity 
and  multiformity  of  parts  does  not  constitute  progress.     A 
cancer  introduces  into  an  organism  changes  that  make  it 
more  heterogeneous,  yet  it  may  cause  death.     The  anarchy 
resulting  from  a  revolution  makes  a  state  more  heterogene- 
ous, yet  it  may  be  the  precursor  of  its  dissolution.     The  law 
of  passage  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous  is  a 
law  of  progress,  but  not  the  law  of  progress.     The  primary 
law  of  progress    (or   evolution,  which  in  his   later  works 
Spencer  substitutes  for  the  word  "  progress  ")  is  the  inte- 
gration of  matter  and  the  concomitant  dissipation  of  mo- 
tion, which  is  alike  exhibited  in  the  crystallization  of  carbon 
into  a  diamond  and  the  growth  of  an  animal  from  a  germ  ; 
but  when,  as  in  the  field  of  biology,  there  is  with  continual 
integration   of  matter   increasing  heterogeneity  of    form, 
progress  is  possible  only  when  there  is  also  increasing  co- 
herence, detinitencss,  and  mutual  dependence  of  parts  and 
a  subordination  of  the  various  parts  and  manifold  functions 
to  the  movements  of  the  whole  structure.     Cancers  produce 
differentiation ;  but,  as  they  can  not  be  integrated  in  har- 
mony with  the  rest  of  the  body,  they  result  not  in  progress 
but  in  death.     Thus  it  is  seen  that  evolution  is  a  double 
process — a  movement  toward  unity  as  well  as  diversity.    In- 
tegration, the  primary  process,  under  certain  conditions  the 
most  completely  realized  by  organic  bodies,  is  accompanied 
by   a   complementary  process  from    indefinite,   incoherent 
homogeneity  to  definite   coherent  heterogeneity.     Variety 
increases  with  the  unity  it  accomplishes.     The  evolution  of 
an  animal  from  an  egg  or  a  tree  from  a  seed  occurs  by  the 
integration  of  various  elements  into  a  complex  structure,  in 
which  at  the  same  time  go  on  continual  differentiations  and 
local  integrations,  making  the  whole  a  compact  aggregate 
that  presents  great  iieterogeneity  in  itself  and  at  the  same 
time  a  wide  differentiation  from  all  other  aggregates. 

9.  The  field  of  this  compound  evolution  is  among  bodies 


Herhert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Pliilosopliy.  Ill 

of  differing  densities,  between  gases  wherein  the  molecular 
motion  is  too  rapid  to  admit  of  a  structural  arrangement, 
and  solids  in  which  the  amount  of  retained  motion  is  too 
small  to  admit  of  molecular  rearrangement.  Spencer  ob- 
serves :  "  A  large  amount  of  secondary  redistribution  is  possi- 
ble only  where  there  is  a  great  quantity  of  retained  motion ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  these  distributions  can  have  promi- 
nence only  when  the  contained  motion  has  become  small, 
opposing  conditions  that  seem  to  negative  any  large  amount 
of  secondary  redistribution."  It  is  in  organic  bodies  "  that 
these  apparently  contradictory  conditions  are  reconciled," 
for  their  peculiarity  consists  in  the  concentration  of  matter 
in  a  high  degree  with  a  far  larger  amount  of  molecular  mo- 
tion tlian  is  found  in  other  bodies  of  the  same  degree  of 
concentration. 

10.  All  living  forms  have  been  evolved  in  accordance 
with  the  above-mentioned  laws.  The  most  complex  are  the 
product  of  modifications  wrought  on  pre-existent  animals. 
The,  evolution  of  species  goes  on,  not  in  ascending  lineal 
series,  but  by  continual  divergence  and  redivergence.  Com- 
plexity of  life  and  intelligence  is  correlated  with  complexity 
of  structure.  The  highest  form  of  intelligence,  the  human, 
has  been  reached  by  modifications  wrought  through  ages 
upon  pre-existing  intelligences. 

11.  The  mental  faculties  of  man,  not  less  than  his  brain 
and  nervous  system,  are  the  product  of  innumerable  modi- 
fications in  the  evolution  of  the  highest  creatures  from  the 
lowest. 

Experiences  registered  in  the  nervous  system  produce 
structural  changes  and  are  accompanied  by  mental  modifi- 
cations. The  aptitudes  and  intuitions  of  the  human  mind 
are  the  product  of  accumulated  human  experiences,  trans- 
mitted and  organized  in  the  race.  Even  the  "  a  priori  forms 
of  thought "  have  been  slowly  acquired.  Whatever  in  the 
mind  transcends  the  experience  of  the  individual  is  never- 
theless the  product  of  ancestral  experiences. 

12.  Not  only  is  it  true  that  our  highest  conceptions  of 
morality  have  been  evolved  in  accordance  with  these  laws, 
but  even  the  moral  sense  has  been  formed  by  accumulated 
and  multiplied  experiences,  registered  in  the  slowly  evolving 
organism  and  transmitted  as  intuition,  as  sensitive  in  some 
persons  to  a  moral  wrong  as  the  tactile  sense  is  to  the  sting 
of  a  bee.  The  ultimate  basis  of  morality  is  the  source  of 
all  phenomena,  "  an  inscrutable  power,"  as  John  Fiske  well 


112         Herlert  Spencer's  Sijiitlietic  Philosophy. 

says,  "  of  which  the  properties  of  matter  and  motion  necessi- 
tating the  process  of  evolution,  with  pain  and  wrong  as  its 
concomitants,  are  the  phenomenal  manifestations." 

13.  The  religious  sentiment,  equally  with  the  moral  sense, 
has  been  evolved  through  psychical  conditions  represented 
by  all  the  stages  of  life  below  man.  The  object  of  religious 
sentiment  is  the  unknowable  reality.  The  essential  truth 
of  religion  is  involved  in  a  recognition  of  an  absolute  upon 
which  all  phenomena  depend,  while  its  fundamental  error 
begins  with  investing  this  reality  with  anthropomorphic 
qualities. 

14.  All  conceptions  and  systems,  philosophical,  ethical, 
and  religious ;  language,  government,  poetry,  art,  science, 
philosophy,  and  industrial  pursuits;  all  human  activities, 
equally  with  animal  and  vegetable  forms,  plants,  solar  and 
stellar  systems — have  been  evolved  from  a  homogeneous, 
indefinite,  and  incoherent  condition  to  a  heterogeneous, 
definite,  and  coherent  state. 

Such  is  the  merest  abstract,  and  a  very  imperfect  one,  of 
the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  maintained  by  Herbert  Spencer. 

The  doctrine  of  the  unknowable  is  unwelcome  to  theolo- 
gians generally  and  to  those  theologically  inclined,  because 
it  is  opposed  to  all  systems  and  theories  based  upon  the  as- 
sumption of  the  knowledge  of  God— his  nature,  attributes, 
purpose,  etc.  It  is  opposed  by  others  of  anti-theological 
views,  because  they  think,  especially  when  they  see  Unknow- 
able printed  with  the  initial  letter  a  capital,  that  it  implies 
the  existence  of  a  God  more  or  less  like  the  theological 
conception  which  they  have  renounced.  Both  classes  may, 
when  they  come  to  appreciate  fully  the  reasoning  by  which 
the  conclusion  has  been  reached  by  men  like  Kant  and 
Spencer,  reconsider  more  carefully  their  objections,  and 
adopt  the  view  in  which  are  united  all  that  is  tenable  m  the 
affirmation  of  the  theist  with  all  that  is  warranted  m  tlie 
criticism  of  the  atheist.  ^ 

One  anti-theological  writer  characterizes  Spencer  s  thought 
as  a  "  spook  "  philosophy ;  on  the  other  hand,  an  idealist,  a 
disciple  of  the  late  Prof.  Thomas  Hill  (Jrecn,  m  the  hitest 
num])er  of  the  Journal  of  Speculative  Philosophy  (date, 
January,  1888),  speaks  of  "  the  philoso])hy  of  scientific  ma- 
terialism and  agnosticism,  of  which  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
is  the  most  di.stiugiii.shod  exponent,"  of  the  "full-Hedged 
scientific  materialistic  i)liikjsoi)hy  of  Lewes  and  Spencer  and 
their  adjutants,"  ignoring  the  fact  that  in  Spencers  phi- 


Herbert  Sjpeyicefs  Synthetic  Philosophy.  113 

losopliy  conceptions  of  matter  and  motion  are  treated  merely 
as  symbols  of  an  ultimate  reality  which  is  manifested  be- 
yond consciousness  as  matter  and  motion  and  in  conscious- 
ness as  feeling  and  thought.  Some  writers  have  character- 
ized Spencer's  philosophy  by  the  word  dualism,  to  make  it 
appear  to  be  in  opposition  to  what  they  call  "  monism," 
whereas  Mr,  Spencer  is  thoroughly  monistic,  since,  as  he 
says :  "  I  recognize  no  forces  within  the  organism  or  with- 
out the  organism  but  the  variously  conditional  modes  of 
the  universal  immanent  force ;  and  the  whole  process  of 
organic  evolution  is  everywhere  attributed  by  me  to  the  co- 
operation of  its  variously  conditioned  modes,  internal  and 
external." 

Quite  a  common  impression  is  that  the  doctrine  that  all 
knowledge  is  relative,  that  we  can  not  know  the  absolute, 
carries  with  it  the  implication  somehow  that  there  is  no 
possibility  of  any  plane  of  intelligent  existence  except  that 
known. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  doctrine  of  the  "  absolute  "  or  the 
"  unknowable,"  as  expounded  either  by  Kant  or  Spencer, 
that  is  inconsistent  with  the  continuance  of  life  under  other 
conditions  than  those  of  the  present  state  of  being.  There 
is  nothing  in  this  doctrine  which  implies  that  man  does 
not  survive  physical  death  or  that  there  are  not  higher 
planes  of  existence  than  are  known  here.  The  philosophy 
of  the  absolute  or  the  unknowable  merely  teaches  that  all 
knowledge  is  relative,  that  in  perception  there  are  two  fac- 
tors— the  mind  and  the  objective  reality — and  that,  instead  of 
actually  perceiving  the  objective  reality  as  it  absolutely  is, 
the  mind  perceives  a  phenomenon,  an  appearance,  a  repre- 
sentation symbolical  of  and  corresponding  with,  but  not  a 
likeness  of,  the  objective  thing.  The  "  substratum  "  of  men- 
tal phenomena  is  no  more  known  tlian  is  that  of  physical 
phenomena.  As  Daniel  Greenleaf  Thompson  says :  "  The 
truth  is,  we  are  forced  by  the  laws  of  cognition  to  postulate 
an  unknown  reality  behind  the  known  reality,  both  of  mat- 
ter and  mind,  a  dark  side  of  the  material  world  and  of  in- 
telligence, an  imperceptible  substantive  being,  out  of  which 
somehow  comes  the  perceptible,  and  into  which  it  disap- 
pears, a  source  of  both  material  and  mental  phenomena,  a 
cause  of  their  effects,  a  permanent  in  which  alone  change  is 
possible,  a  possibility  for  all  actualities  and  a  power  which 
transcends  knowledge  but  which  is  presupposed  iu  all 
knowledge.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  paradox." 
9 


114  Herhert  Spencer^s  Syiithetic  Philosopliy. 

This  philosophy  does  not  make  conceivability,  much  less 
sensibility,  the  test  of  possibility.  On  the  contrary,  it  recog- 
nizes the  fact  that  there  are  many  motions  of  the  universe 
to  which  the  dull  senses  of  man  make  no  response  whatever. 
There  are  a  great  number  and  variety  of  movements  of 
which  sense-bound  beings  can  take  no  cognizance.  With 
superior  sensorial  perceptions  man  would  be  able  to  discern 
many  of  these  movements  which  are  now  incognizable. 

"Indeed,"  says  Tyndall  in  the  Eeade  Lectures  on  Eadiant 
Heat,  "  the  domain  of  the  senses  in  Nature  is  almost  infi- 
nitely small  in  comparison  with  the  vast  region  accessible 
to  thought  which  lies  beyond  them.  From  a  few  observa- 
tions of  a  comet  when  it  comes  within  the  range  of  his  tele- 
scope, an  astronomer  can  calculate  its  path  in  regions  which 
no  telescope  can  reach ;  and  in  like  manner,  by  means  of 
data  furnished  in  the  narrow  world  of  the  senses,  we  make 
ourselves  at  home  in  other  and  wider  worlds,  which  can  be 
traversed  by  the  intellect  alone." 

And  Lewes  remarks  to  the  same  purport :  "  We  do  not 
actually  experience  through  feeling  a  tithe  of  what  we 
firmly  believe  and  can  demonstrate  to  intuition.  The  invisi- 
ble is  like  the  snow  at  the  North  Pole;  no  human  eye  has 
beheld  it,  but  the  mind  is  assured  of  its  existence ;  and  is, 
moreover,  convinced  that  if  the  snow  exists  there,  it  has  the 
properties  found  elsewhere.  Nor  is  the  invisible  confined 
to  objects  which  have  never  been  presented  to  sense,  al- 
though they  may  be  presented  on  some  future  occasion ;  it 
also  comprises  objects  beyond  even  this  possible  range,  be- 
yond all  practicable  extension  of  sense." 

But  however  extended  is  man's  knowledge,  it  is  always 
knowledge  possessed  under  the  conditions  of  knowing, 
which  include  a  relation  between  the  me  and  the  not-me, 
and  percejjtion  and  thought  according  to  the  mental  consti- 
tution. 

As  Mr.  E.  D.  Fawcet  says,  Kant,  who  denied  that  the 
mind  couid  know  things  in  themselves,  "expressed  himself 
favorable  to  the  view  that  a  world  of  supersensuous  beings 
environs  this  planet,  and  that  tlie  establishment  of  commu- 
nication with  such  beings  is  only  a  matter  of  .time.  Kant 
indeed  was  far  too  acute  not  to  see  that  a  speculative  agnos- 
ticism (shutting  out  the  possibility  of  al)solute  knowledge  of 
realities)  can  not  possibly  assert  that  there  is  no  plane  of 
relative  or  phenomenal  experience  except  that  called  the 
physical  world.     Contrariwise,  there  may  be  innumerable 


Herbert  Spencer^  Synthetic  Philosophy.  115 

strata  of  materiality  all  alike  relative  to  the  consciousness 
of  their  '  percipients.'  " 

The  doctrine  of  the  relativity  of  knowledge  and  of  the 
inscrutableness  of  the  ultimate  nature  of  things  has  been 
held  by  nearly  all  the  great  thinkers  of  ancient  and  modern 
times,  including  men  of  firm  faith  in  immortality.  To 
confound  this  doctrine  with  the  doctrine  of  materialism  is 
to  betray  ignorance  of  philosophic  thought.  With  the 
question  whether  there  is  or  is  not  a  future  life  for  man  I  am 
not  here  concerned.  Spencer  neither  affirms  belief  in  such  a 
life  nor  denies  its  possibility.  There  is  nothing  in  his  sys- 
tem of  philosophy  that  involves  necessarily,  so  far  as  I  can 
see,  either  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
continuance  of  conscious  existence  after  bodily  dissolution. 
If  it  could  be  disproved,  his  philosophy  would  not  be  af- 
fected thereby ;  if  it  could  be  demonstrated  beyond  doubt 
to  be  true,  the  philosophy  would  be  in  no  need  of  modifica- 
tion, for  the  phenomenal  world  would  only  be  extended  and 
the  domain  of  science  enlarged.  One  may  hold  to  Spen- 
cer's philosophy  and  yet  believe  with  Shad  worth  Hodgson 
in  "  an  ethereal  body  built  up  during  our  lifetime  within 
our  grosser  body,  destined  to  preserve  our  individuality  after 
death."  The  only  question  is,  Is  there  proof  of  this  theory 
of  an  ethereal  body?  Our  American  psychologist  and  phi- 
losopher, Mr.  D.  G-.  Thompson,  who  accepts  Mr.  Spencer's 
philosophy  in  all  its  essential  doctrines  and  implications,  is 
"  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  ground  for  the  assertion 
of  post-mortem  personal  self-consciousness  in  identity  with 
ante-mortem  self-consciousness  is  firmer  than  for  the  con- 
trary belief."  He  thinks  it  is  "  no  harder  to  understand 
the  continued  existence  of  personal  existence  after  death 
than  to  comprehend  its  occultation  in  sleep  and  restoration 
afterward."  Mr.  Thompson  adds :  "  The  same  arguments 
tliat  support  the  belief  in  continued  personal  existence  after 
death  tend  also  to  prove  an  existence  before  birth.  Is  it 
possible  that  we  must  return  to  the  pre-existence  doctrines 
of  the  ancient  philosophers'?  Is  it  possible  that  we  must 
each  say,  I  am  ;  therefore  I  always  Avas  and  always  shall  be  ? 
Dios  sabe ! ''''  Others  think  that  the  implications  of  Spen- 
cer's philosophy  point  to  physical  dissolution  as  the  end  of 
consciousness. 

A  few  years  ago  Mr.  Richard  A.  Proctor,  in  conversation, 
gave  me  his  estimate  of  Herbert  Spencer,  which  subsequent- 
ly, by  my  request,  be  put  in  a  form  for  publication,  and  it 


116  Herlert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Philosophy. 

appeared  as  a  contribution  in  a  journal  which  I  then  con- 
ducted. From  that  paper  the  following  is  an  extract :  "  If 
we  compare  Herbert  Spencer,  in  any  dejDartment  of  science, 
with  some  chief  master  in  that  department,  we  find  him  at 
once  less  and  greater ;  less  in  knowledge  of  details  and  in 
mastery  of  facts  and  methods  ;  greater  in  that  he  sees  out- 
side and  beyond  the  mere  details  of  that  special  subject  and 
recognizes  the  relation  of  its  region  of  inquiry  to  the  much 
wider  domain  over  which  his  own  philosophy  extends.  .  .  . 

"  Yet  one  can  not  but  pause,  when  contemplating  Herbert 
Spencer's  work  in  departments  of  research,  to  note  with 
wonder  how  he  has  been  enabled,  by  mere  clearness  of  in- 
sight, to  discern  truths  which  escaped  the  notice  of  the  very 
leaders  in  those  special  subjects  of  inquiry.  To  take  as- 
tronomy, for  example,  a  subject  which,  more,  perhaps,  than 
any  other,  requires  long  and  special  study  before  the  facts 
with  which  it  deals  can  be  rightly  interpreted,  Spencer  rea- 
soned justly  respecting  the  most  difficult  as  well  as  the 
highest  of  all  subjects  of  astronomical  research,  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  stellar  system,  when  the  Herschels,  Arago, 
and  Humboldt  adopted  or  accepted  erroneous  views.  In 
this  particular  matter  I  had  a  noteworthy  illustration  of  the 
justice  of  a  remark  made  (either  by  Youmans  or  Fiske,  I 
forget  which)  at  the  Spencer  banquet  in  New  York  a  few 
years  ago :  '  In  every  department  of  inquiry  even  the  most 
zealous  specialists  must  take  the  ideas  of  llerbert  Spencer 
into  consideration.'  After  long  and  careful  study  specially 
directed  to  tliat  subject,  I  advanced  in  18G9  opinions  which 
I  supposed  to  be  new  respecting  the  architecture  of  the 
heavens — opinions  which  Spencer  liimself,  in  his  Study  of 
Sociology,  has  described  as '  going  far  to  help  us  in  conceiv- 
ing the  constitution  of  our  own  galaxy.'  Yet  I  found  that 
twelve  years  before,  dealing  with  that  part  of  science  in  his 
specially  planned  survey  of  the  whole  domain,  he  had  seen 
clearly  many  of  the  points  on  which  I  insisted  later,  and 
had  found  in  such  points  sufficient  evidence  to  lead  him  to 
correct  views  respecting  the  complexity  and  variety  of  the 
sidereal  system." 

In  conclusion,  The  Synthetic  Philosophy,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, is  not,  of  course,  to  be  regarded  as  a  finality.  While 
man  continues  to  advance  in  knowledge,  all  systems,  to  be 
of  current  value,  will  have  to  be  subjected  to  much  revision 
and  supplementation ;  but  I  am,  I  think,  warranted  in  say- 
ing that  the  leading  principles  of  the  synthetic  philosophy 


Herbert  Spencer^ s  Synthetic  PMlosophy.  117 

are  likely  to  remain  a  solid  and  permanent  contribution 
to  scientific  and  philosophic  thought.  Herbert  Spencer's 
discovery  and  elucidation  of  the  experiential  origin  of  intui- 
tion and  his  consequent  reconciliation  of  the  sensation  phi- 
losophy and  the  intuitional  school,  together  with  his  for- 
mulation and  establishment  of  the  principles  of  universal 
evolution,  entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  most  original 
thinkers  of  modern  times.  He  will  easily  hold  his  place  as 
the  most  profound  and  comprehensive  philosophic  mind  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 


118  Herhert  Spencer's  Synthetic  Philosophy. 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE    DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Raymond  S.  Peerin  : 

As  I  have  listened  to  the  lecture  of  the  evening,  I  have  experienced, 
in  common,  I  have  no  doubt,  with  a  great  many  in  this  audience,  an 
impression  of  being  overwhelmed  with  an  avalanche  of  philosophic 
terms.     The  speaker  has  impressed  us  with  the  store  of  knowledge 
which  he  has  acquired,  but  he  has  left  us  confused  and  unhappy.    A 
few  simple  truths  clearly  and  properly  presented  would  have  resulted 
in  something  more  practical  in  the  way  of  information  than  this  ab- 
struse philosophical  discussion.     I  am  a  great  admirer  of  Herbert 
Spencer,  who  has  undoubtedly  given  us  the  most  remarkable  philo- 
sophical system  of  the  present  century.    On  its  objective  side  its  mode 
of  procedure  has  been  scientific,  and  it  is  in  effect  a  synthesis  of  all 
the  special  sciences.     But  I  am  no  admirer  of  Kant ;  and  in  so  far  as 
Spencer  has  borrowed  from  Kant,  I  can  not  accept  his  conclusions  as 
rational  and  valid.    To  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  philosophy  of 
Plato,  Kant's  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  is  a  roaring  farce.    Mr.  Spencer 
has  apparently  accepted  his  conclusion  that  there  is  a  Ding  an  sich 
behind  phenomena— an  absolute  Being  which  is  to  us  unknowable. 
But  if  it  is  unknowable,  how  do  we  know  that  there  is  any  such  abso- 
lute Being?    This  conclusion  is  not  the  result  of  scientific  analysis,  but 
of  metaphysical  speculation.    The  truly  scientific  procedure  in  phi- 
losophy would  be,  instead  of  resolving  all  things  into  an  unknowable 
substance,  to  discover  analytically  what  is  the  common  content  of  all 
phenomena— those  which  are  called  mental  as  well  as  those  which  are 
called  physical.     The  only  quality  or  principle  common  to  all  known 
modes  of  being  is  motion.     i\Iotion  is  a  principle  of  life  and  mind  as 
well  as  of  material  things.    Absence  of  motion  would  be  absolute  death 
or  nonentity.     In  the  ultimate  analysis  we  reach  this  principle  of  mo- 
tion or  life  everywhere,  and  we  are  therefore  justified  in  positing  it  as 
the  supreme  reality  in  the  place  of  the  unknowable  of  Mr.  Spencer. 

Mr.  William  IT.  Bouguton  : 

The  comprehensive,  just,  judicious,  and  judicial  paper  to  which  we 
have  listened  to-night  has  yielded  to  us  all  the  pleasure  which  a  model 
review  can  give,  and  leaves  nothing  for  criticism  of  matter  or  method. 

But  it  may  be  of  interest  to  call  attention  to  some  conclusions  of  Mr. 
Spencer  which  he  may  not  have  established  upon  as  firm  a  foundation 


Herbert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Philosophy.  119 

as  that  upon  which  he  has  reared  his  doctrine  of  evolution.  I  refer  to 
his  theory  of  an  unknowable  power,  or  ultimate  force  or  final  first 
cause,  from  which  all  things  proceed. 

This  conclusion  can  not  be  drawn  from  such  unassailable  premises 
as  Mr.  Spencer's  definition  of  space — viz.,  the  abstract  of  all  coexist- 
ences ;  nor  from  the  character  of  such  existences  to  be  found  in  his 
definition  of  matter — viz.,  coexistent  positions  which  offer  resistance — 
implying,  as  he  must  imply,  all  of  motion  in  that  word  "  positions," 
and  excluding,  as  he  must  exclude  therefrom,  all  ideas  of  fixity.  Fi- 
nality can  not  be  ascribed  to  cause ;  and  with  the  fall  of  finality  comes 
the  fall  of  its  illogical  conclusion — viz.,  that  creative  power  which  is 
implied  in  Mr.  Spencer's  words,  '"  from  which  all  things  proceed." 

All  we  know  or  can  imagine  of  cause  is  antecedence — that  one  thing 
precedes  another  and  a  different  thing  in  time. 

There  is  no  question  of  a  series  here.  The  last  thing  is  not  the  end 
of  cause,  and  the  first  thing  does  not  begin  it.  The  one  is  as  unthink- 
able as  the  other.  With  the  demolition  of  finality,  what  becomes  of 
its  creative  power  f  There  is  no  question  here  of  quantity  nor  of  qual- 
ity. If  matter  is  indestructible,  power  could  not  have  caused  it;  and, 
if  power  is  imperishable,  it  can  not  in  that  respect  be  distinguished 
from  matter.  If  power  has  any  existence,  it  falls  under  the  definition 
of  matter ;  if  space  is  all  existence,  it  can  have  no  other  meaning  than 
indefinitely  extended  matter,  and  their  coexistence  prevents  proces- 
sion and  throws  out  all  ideas  of  final  cause  and  final  antecedence. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Spencer's  error  flows  from  a  misapplication 
of  the  fact  that  we  think  in  relations  and  can  not  think  of  a  knowable 
power  except  as  related  to  an  unknowable  power. 

This  relation  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject,  for  the  reason  that 
it  is  not  a  question  of  the  relation  of  a  knowable  whole  or  a  knowable 
part  to  an  unknowable  whole,  for  space  is  not  a  limited  whole,  and  an 
unlimited  whole  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Space  has  no  opposite, 
no  antithesis.  Form  is  not  its  opposite.  The  constantly  changing 
forms  which  indefinitely  extended  matter  assumes  are  included  in 
apace,  as  the  shape  of  the  apple  is  included  in  the  apple. 

Of  course  there  is  no  time  to-night  to  amplify  the  views  which  I 
have  expressed,  nor  to  state  them  except  dogmatically,  and  I  will 
therefore  close  by  thanking  the  lecturer  for  his  paper  and  the  audi- 
ence for  its  attention. 

Dr.  Robert  G.  Eccles  : 

Mr.  Underwood's  lecture  is  a  very  able  and  satisfactory  exposition 
of  the  sjTithetic  philosophy.  He  had  a  big  subject  to  deal  with,  and, 
of  course,  could  only  be  expected  to  present  the  merest  outline  in  an 


120         Herbert  Spencer's  Synthetic  PhilosojjJiy. 

hour's  talk.    He  dwelt  chiefly  on  the  psychological  side  rather  than 
the  physical.     This  was  almost  inevitable  under  existing  circum- 
stances, and  no  doubt  the  best,  since  Mr.  Spencer's  contributions 
have  been  more  notable  and  original  here  than  in  the  physical  domain. 
In  the  latter  he  relied  more  on  the  work  of  eminent  biologists  like 
Darwin  and  Huxley.    All  he  has  done  is  but  a  continuation  of  the 
work  of  preceding  philosophers.    The  doctrine  of  evolution  is  itself 
an  evolution,  and  was  only  synthetized  by  Mr.  Spencer.    It  is  in  the 
direct  line  of  descent  of  the  work  of  the  best  reasoners  of  all  ages, 
and  only  became  possible  in  its  present  form  after  the  advent  of  mod- 
ern science.    It  is  really  a  growth  of  the  ages  and  not  the  work  of  a 
day  or  even  a  century.    It  owes  much  to  Kant,  Berkeley,  Reid,  Hume, 
and  other  great  thinkers  who  have  been  mentioned  to-night.     It  has 
found  allied  truths  in  contending  schools  of  thought,  brought  them 
together  and  fused  them  into  a  harmonic  whole.    To  understand  it 
correctly  requires  breadth  of  thought,  abundance  of  data,  and  persist- 
ent, hard  mental  work.    Without  these  it  remains  as  incomprehensible 
as  the  higher  mathematics  to  the  non-educated. 

It  is  quite  evident  from  Mr.  Perrin's  remarks  that  he  has  failed  com- 
pletely to  grasp  the  basic  principles  of  its  psychology.    There  is  a  pons 
asinorum  here  that  he  has  not  crossed.    This  surprises  me  very  much. 
Himself  a  writer  on  philosophical  subjects  of  acknowledged  ability, 
one  would  have  expected  better  things  from  him  here.    What  he  has 
said  reveals  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  of  the  "  unknowable "  is  un- 
known to  him  except  in  name.    He  neither  has  grasped  what  Spencer 
and  his  disciples  mean  by  it,  nor  the  significance  of  the  facts  upon 
which  it  rests.    Its  basis  is  wholly  physiological,  and  as  an  implication 
it  is  imperative.    All  that  it  involves  is  a  correct  comprehension  of  the 
nature  and  limitations  of  human  sense  and  perception.    To  know  what 
we  know,  and  how  we  know  it,  is  to  demonstrate  what  Mr.  Perrin 
denies.    For  him  to  characterize  Kant's  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  as  a 
"  farce  "  is  only  to  reveal  the  sad  limitations  of  his  own  mental  grasp. 
However  much  we  may  dissent  from  some  of  this  great  German's  con- 
clusions, we  all  must  admit  him  to  be  one  of  the  very  ablest  and  most 
profound  reasoners  the  world  has  ever  seen.     Whoever  attempts  to 
ignore  or  underestimate  his  work  only  discountenances  his  own  prow- 
ess.   That  he  believed  in  "things  in  themselves"  was  but  evidence 
that  he  held  the  universe  to  be  real  instead  of  illusory.    The  pict- 
ures in  our  brains  have  as  causes  substantial  verities.     Mr.  Perrin 
holds  that  real  being  is  motion.    "  Things  in  themselves,"  he  contends, 
arc  mere  motions.     But  motions  of  what!    Of  nothing,  he  maintains. 
How  many  of  you  can  picture  to  your  minds  motions  of  nothings  I 
Reason  rebels  against  being  forced  to  accept  such  a  thought.    Are  not 


Herbert  Spencer^s  Synthetic  Philosophy.  121 

such  motions  unknowable  ?  This  apotheosis  of  motion  does  not  help 
philosophy  in  the  least.  It  is  practically  telling  us  that  the  world 
rests  on  the  shoulders  of  Atlas,  but  fails  to  say  what  that  worthy 
stands  upon  for  his  support. 

Mr.  John  A.  Tayloe  : 

The  essay  to  which  we  have  listened  this  evening  must  be  regarded, 
I  think,  by  all  competent  to  judge,  as  one  of  the  most  candid  and  able 
expositions  of  philosophical  truth  to  which  this  association  has  ever 
listened.  It  is  indeed  a  large  subject,  and  can  hardly  be  treated  in  the 
form  of  a  popular  lecture.  I  thiuk,  however,  that  Mr.  Underwood  has 
been  remarkably  successful  in  presenting  to  us  a  clear  and  correct  ex- 
position of  Mr.  Spencer's  philosophy.  If  Mr.  Perrin  had  given  a  little 
more  thought  to  the  matter,  he  would  hardly  have  complained,  I 
think,  of  the  abstruse  character  of  the  essay.  Surely  the  lecturer  has 
used  no  terms  so  technical  that  a  philosophical  student  can  not  readily 
grasp  and  understand  them.  It  should  have  been  left  to  us  who  make 
no  claims  to  philosophical  distinction  to  make  this  criticism — if  it  is 
to  be  made.  But,  unfamiliar  as  I  am  with  Kant — whose  works  I  have 
tried  in  vain  to  read — and  the  abstruse  discussions  of  other  meta- 
physicians, I  found  no  difficulty  in  comprehending  the  lecturer's  ex- 
position. I  regard  Mr.  Spencer  as  the  foremost  philosopher  of  our 
time,  and  think  the  association  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  oppor- 
tunity of  listening  to  such  an  able  presentation  of  his  views.  I  would 
move,  sir,  as  an  expression  of  our  appreciation  of  the  ability  of  the  lec- 
turer as  a  foremost  advocate  of  evolution  views,  that  Mr.  Underwood 
be  elected  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Brooklyn  Ethical  Association. 

(The  motion  being  duly  seconded  and  put  to  vote  by  the  president, 
Mr.  Underwood  was  unanimously  elected). 

Mr.  Underwood  : 

Recognizing  the  excellent  work  which  this  association  has  done, 
with  which  I  have  long  been  familiar,  I  regard  your  election  of  myself 
as  corresponding  member  as  a  high  honor,  and  accept  it  in  the  spirit  in 
which  it  has  been  tendered.  I  also  thank  you  for  the  general  charac- 
ter of  your  criticisms.  The  task  imposed  upon  me  was  a  great  one — 
one  which  required  a  course  of  lectures  rather  than  an  hour's  discus- 
sion for  its  accomplishment.  No  one  can  be  better  aware  than  myself 
of  the  imperfections  of  my  lecture.  The  subject  is  one  which  neces- 
sitates the  use  of  philosophical  terms,  but  I  have  endeavored  to  present 
it  as  clearly  and  concisely  as  possible.  The  animadversions  on  Mr. 
Spencer's  views  have  been  so  fully  answered  by  other  speakers  that  I 
will  not  occupy  your  time  by  a  further  reply. 


••  SOCIOLOGICAL  •  EVOLUTION 


XIV. 

Brooklyn  Ethiral  Associ- 
ation Lectures. 


EVOLUTION  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 
III.  THE  ANARCHISTIC  METHOD. 


BY 

HUGH  O.   PEXTECOST 
Editor  of  "The  Twentieth  Century." 


BOSTON 
JAMES  H.  WEST,   Publisher 

196  Summer  Street 
1890 


\lA0^ri^ 


COLLATERAL    READINGS    SUGGESTED. 

Spencer's  "Principles of  Sociology,"  "Social  Statics,"  and  "The 
Man  versus  the  State";  Prudhon's  "What  is  Property?"  and 
"  Id^e  Generale  de  la  Kevolution  au  19me  Sifecle" ;  Brown's  "  Stud- 
ies in  Modern  Socialism" ;  Sumner's  "What  Social  Classes  owe  to 
Each  Other";  Mill's  "On  Liberty";  Lieber's  "On  Civil  Liberty 
and  Self-Government";  Huxley's  "Administrative  Xihilism"; 
Stephen's  " Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity";  Crosier's  "Civil- 
ization and  Progress";  Thompson's  "Social  Progress";  James's 
"Anarchy";  Parsons's  "Anarchism:  Its  Philosophy  and  Scien- 
tific Basis";  Bakounine's  "r;odand  theState";  Andrews's  "The 
Science  of  Society";  Tcheruichewsky's  "What's  to  be  Done?" 

(302) 


EVOLUTION    AND    SOCIAL    REFORM.* 

III.     THE    ANARCHISTIC    METHOD. 

Those  who  accept  tlie  conclusions  of  Anarchism  believe 
that  it  is  a  science ;  or,  if  you  please,  a  philosophy  sup- 
ported by  facts  scientifically  discovered  and  collated.  It  is 
not  a  religion  based  upon  assumptions,  unwarranted  or 
contradicted  by  facts.  It  is  not  a  S3'stem  of  metaphysics 
consisting  of  undemonstrable  speculations.  They  freely 
admit  that  Sociology  is  not  yet  an  exact  science ;  that, 
strictly  speaking,  there  is  no  Science  of  Society.  But  they 
speak  of  Anarchism  as  a  science  because  its  methods  of 
investigation  and  accomplishment  are  scientific.  In  so  far 
as  it  represents  conclusions  they  have  been  reached  scien- 
tifically. If  Anarchists  have  a  theory  it  is  because  they 
believe  observed  facts  are  best  explained  by  that  theor}-. 
If  a  theory  does  not  well  account  for  observed  facts  it  is 
abandoned,  and  a  new  working  hypothesis  is  sought.  They 
do  not  pursue  the  theologic  or  metaphysical  method  in 
formulating  their  postulates. 

Anarchists  believe  there  should  be  no  government :  by 
which  they  mean  no  government  by  physical  force ;  no 
government  to  prevent  persons  from  thinking,  saying  or 
doing  what  they  should  be  free  to  think,  say  or  do ;  no 
government  for  the  encouragement  of  those  who  invade 
what  should  be  the  rights  of  others,  with  the  protection  of 
such  invaders ;  no  government  to  authorize  a  few  to  monop- 
olize what  should  be  the  opportunities  of  all ;  no  govern- 
ment to  compel  persons  to  do  what  they  should  be  free  to 
refuse  to  do,  what  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  good  of  all 
that  they  should  do ;  no  government  in  favor  of  one  class 
as  against  another  class ;  no  government  to  enrich  the  idle 
by  impoverishing  the  industrious.  They  believe  there 
should  be  no  government  that  interferes  with  wholesome 
individual  liberty  and  wealth-producing  exertion.  But 
they  believe  in  well-ordered  society,  in  which  the.  wise,  the 
just,  the  good  will  rule  by  precepts,  principles  and  ex- 
amples ;  in  which  healthful  public  opinion  will  utter  and 
•Copyright,  1890,  by  James  H.  West. 


304  Evolution  and  Social  Reform: 

morally  enforce  everything  needful  for  restraint  or  encour- 
agement. They  believe  in  government,  but  not  government 
by  physical  force  for  the  injury  of  all,  or,  to  use  a  common 
expression  which  means  the  same,  for  unjust  purposes. 
They  believe  in  self-control  and  mutuality. 

An  Anarchist  is  not  one  who  wishes  to  separate  himself 
from  his  kind,  to  live  independently,  to  lapse  into  the 
individual  isolation  of  the  Stone  Age.  He  is  an  individual- 
ist, but  also  a  socialist,  a  mutualist.  He  understands  that 
civilized  men  must  co-operate,  that  co-operation  is  a  social 
necessity.  But  he  wishes  to  co-operate  voluntarily ;  to 
have  the  privilege  of  declining  to  co-operate  in  one  or  more 
or  all  particulars ;  of  resigning  the  benefits  and  obligations 
of  co-operation.  He  values  individual  freedom  above  all 
other  possessions,  and  protests  against  any  organization  of 
society  in  which  it  is  not  recognized  and  respected.  He 
does  not  wish  another  or  a  majority  of  others  to  decide  for 
him  what  he  shall  or  shall  not  do,  unless  he  agrees  before- 
hand to  such  an  arrangement.  If  he  wishes  to  live  apart 
from  others  he  desires  to  be  allowed  to  do  so.  He  believes 
in  society  composed  of  individuals  each  of  whom  shall  be 
free  from  invasive  restraints  or  compulsions.  It  should  be 
understood  that  Anarchists  abhor  the  idea  of  using  individ- 
ual liberty  for  the  purpose  of  injuring  others,  and  they 
believe  that  in  society  rightly  constituted  there  would  be 
found  effective  methods  of  dealing  Avith  those  who  should 
violate  the  rights  or  liberties  of  others. 

It  should  be  understood  from  this  statement  of  general 
principles  that  Anarchists  are  not  bomb-throwers  —  dyna- 
miters. There  are  some  persons  who  call  themselves 
Anarchists  who  believe  that  circumstances  might  arise 
which  would  justify  a  resort  to  destructive  warfare,  and 
that  good  results  would  follow  such  a  method.  But,  in  my 
opinion,  the  clearest  thinkers,  the  most  scientific  among 
the  Anarchists,  understand  that  what  might  be  achieved 
by  physical  force  would  be  subject  to  reversal  by  physical 
force,  and  would,  therefore,  have  to  be  conserved  by  physi- 
cal force.  In  my  opinion,  the  most  careful  thinkers  among 
the  Anarchists  understand  that  if  some  transient  ''tidal- 
wave"  of  popular  opinion,  formed  rapidly  and  by  what  we 
call  accident,  or  some  sudden  ujjrising  of  the  people,  in- 
flamed by  discontent  but  not  educated  in  economic  prin- 
ciples, as  in  the  case  of   the  French  Revolution,  should 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  305 

enable  them  by  political  methods  or  force  of  arms  to  secure 
coutrol  of  the  government,  little  or  nothing  would  be 
gained  and  much  might  be  lost.  So  that  the  life  of  even 
so  hateful  a  ruler  as  the  Czar  is  safe  from  attack  by  an 
Anarchist,  because  it  is  not  the  Czar  but  Czarism  that  must 
die  before  the  people  can  be  free ;  and  no  Anarchist  would 
think  of  destroying  the  property  or  life  of  a  monopolist, 
for  it  is  monopolism  that  is  aimed  at,  and  this  can  be 
destroyed  only  by  education.  Anarchists  do  not  fight  with 
bombs,  but  with  books ;  nor  Avith  pistols,  but  with  pens. 
They  are  not  thugs ;  they  are  thinkers.  Not  powder,  but 
persuasion,  is  their  weapon.  Not  by  cannon,  but  by  con- 
victions, do  they  hope  to  win. 

Among  non- Anarchists  who  are  sufiicientlj'  well  informed 
to  understand  all  this,  the  objection  is  vxrged  that  Anarchism 
is  a  beautiful  but  utterlj'-  impracticable  dream.  The 
realization  of  Anarchism,  it  is  said,  would  introduce  the 
millennium ;  and,  strange  to  say,  this  is  a  reason  why 
multitudes  of  Christians  who  profess  to  be  looking  forward 
toward  the  millennium  with  all  the  fervor  of  religious  hape 
regard  Anarchists  with  aversion  or  contempt.  It  is  quite 
true  that  to  reach  an  ideally  Auarchistic  social  state  would 
necessitate  ideall}^  perfect  individuals.  But  Anarchists  are 
not  idealists.  They  are  the  reverse  of  idealists.  Every 
theory  has  its  ideal  of  perfect  consummation.  But  An- 
archists do  not  expect  perfection.  Perfection  is  not 
necessary  to  the  happy  and  relatively  satisfactory  working 
of  Anarchism. 

Anarchists  are  not  dreamers,  hoAvever  much  they  may  be 
so  regarded  by  those  Avho  do  not  understand  their  beliefs 
and  aims.  They  regard  themselves  as  very  rational,  very 
practical  persons.  They  believe  their  theories  maj',  in 
many  particulars,  be  put  in  practice  at  once  5  that  some  of 
them  are  in  ojieration ;  and  that  wherever  they  are  em- 
ployed the  results  are  more  satisfactory  than  where  opposite 
methods  are  pursued.  For  example :  Fashions  are  followed 
by  the  Anarchistic  method.  Men,  without  governmental 
interference,  wear  narrow  or  wide  trousers,  and  women 
short  or  long  skirts.  And  this  is  a  distinct  advance  toward 
Anarchism,  as  everyone  familiar  with  the  governmental 
regulations  of  clothing  in  the  past  knows.  Men  are  not 
governmentally  compelled  to  lift  their  hats  to  women  or 
keep  to  the  right  on  the  sidewalk,  but  they  usually  do  both. 


306  Evolution  and  Social  Reform: 

An  ideal  state  of  society  in  miniature  may  be  seen  in  every 
drawing-room  where  ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  we  call  well- 
bred  men  and  women,  come  together  for  social  intercourse. 
There  is  no  compulsion.  They  talk,  dance,  eat  and  drink; 
groups  form  and  disperse;  individuals,  with  freedom  and 
polite  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  move  about,  come 
and  go.  And  if  one  habitually  disregards  the  proprieties 
of  such  assemblages  he  is  not  arrested  and  dragged  to 
prison ;  he  is  dealt  with  far  more  effectively ;  he  is  not 
invited  to  come,  again ;  he  is  dropped,  shunned,  boycotted. 
The  "four  hundred"  as  well  as  the  Irish  peasantry  know 
the  value  of  the  boycott. 

The  New  York  Grocers'  Association  is  an  almost  purely 
Anarchistic  institution,  and  may  be  used  as  o'lie  example  of 
many.  I  am  informed  that  the  wholesale  grocers  of  Xew 
York  have  lost  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  governmental  laws 
for  the  collection  of  debts,  and  have  formed  an  Association 
which  has  proved  very  satisfactory  in  its  results,  to  protect 
themselves  against  loss  by  bad  debts.  They  no  longer 
depend  upon  governmental  machinery.  If  a  debtor  to  any 
grocery  house  in  New  York  exhibits  signs  of  business 
weakness  or  lack  of  integrity  he  is  visited  by  a  represent- 
ative of  the  Association.  If  this  visit  has  no  salutary 
effect  upon  him  it  becomes  impossible  for  him  to  l)uy  goods, 
except  for  cash,  anywhere  in  New  York.  That  is  all  tliat 
happens  to  him ;  but  out-of-town  buyers  are  said  to  be 
much  more  afraid  of  the  Grocers'  Association  than  of  the 
government.  The  staid  business-men  of  New  York  who 
compose  this  Association  would,  perhaps,  be  shocked  to 
know  that,  in  one  particular,  they  are  true  Anarchists ;  but 
such  is  the  fact.  Their  Association  does  not  serve  them 
with  ideal  perfection,  but  it  is  better  for  them  tlian  the 
system  of  collecting  debts  by  physical  force.  And  this  is 
all  that  Anarchists  claim  for  their  proposed  arrangement 
of  society :  that  it  is  practicable,  that  it  is  better  than 
government  by  physical  force,  and  tliat  it  is  capable  of 
constantly  approaching  ideal  perfection. 

Let  us  now  glance  briefly  at  the  economic  principles  of 
Anaroliism. 

Anarcliists  regard  poverty  as  the  misfortune  that  causes 
most  of  tlie  unhapi)iness  and  crime  with  which  tlie  human 
race  is  afflicted.  I  do  not,  of  course,  mean  that  poverty 
which  individuals  might,  under  any  social  system,  choose 


.     .  The  Anarchistic  Method.  307 

to  suffer  rather  than  practise  virtue  and  self-control  or 
labor  for  the  production  of  wealth.  I  mean  involuntary- 
poverty  ;  that  poverty  which  is  now,  in  spite  of  the  virtue, 
self-control  and  industry  of  the  poor,  so  prevalent.  Many- 
persons  are  skeptical  concerning  the  existence  of  such 
poverty.  It  is  commonly  believed  that  no  one  not  intem- 
perate or  thriftless  need  be  poor.  But  it  is  only  necessary 
to  open  one's  eyes  to  see  that  there  are  millions  of  human 
beings  in  this  and  all  countries  who  labor  unceasingly  only 
to  find  that  their  poverty  increases.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
dwell  upon  a  fact  so  patent.  Everywhere  children  are 
taken  from  school  or  play  to  labor  in  factories  and  mines ; 
else  why  the  futile  statutes  against  child-labor  ?  Every- 
where is  heard  the  hum  of  sewing-machines  from  which 
hollow-chested  women  drop  into  the  Potter's  Field ;  else 
why  all  the  kind-hearted  charitable  work  among  the 
<' worthy  poor"  ? 

This  social  disease  of  poverty  Anarchists  believe  will 
disappear  when  its  causes  are  generally  understood.  And 
they  believe  its  causes  are  much  better  understood  by  a  few 
than  the  causes  of  small-pox  or  cholera  are  understood  by 
any  ;  and  that  they  are  removable.  They  believe  that  what 
are  popularly  supposed  to  be  its  causes  —  ignorance  of  what 
is  taught  in  the  schools,  idleness,  drunkenness  and  crime  — 
are  its  effects ;  and  that,  hence,  to  attempt  to  remove  it  by 
compulsory  education  in  the  common  schools,  charity- 
organization  societies,  model  tenement-houses  and  reforma- 
tories, liowever  well-meant  such  attempts  may  be  and 
undoubtedly  are,  is  to  necessarily  fail.  The  cause  of  invol- 
untary poverty,  Anarchists  believe,  is  the  taking  away 
from  the  laboring  people  —  the  producers  of  Avealth  —  a 
large  part  of  what  they  produce.  This  is  accomplished  by 
methods  not  understood  Avitliout  much  observation  and 
reflection  Init  easily  perceived  by  open-minded  thinkers. 

Anyone  can  see  that  there  are  many  persons  in  every 
comnumity  wlio  do  no  ju-oduotive  work.  Such  persons 
must  be  supported  by  what  others  produce,  since  there  is 
no  other  fund  from  which  they  may  draw.  Beggars  and 
tramps  are  a  drain  upon  the  wealth  of  the  industrious. 
Thieves  break  through  and  steal  what  others  earn. 
Gamblers  of  all  kinds  subsist  upon  what  others  produce  ; 
and  so  do  the  inmates  of  poor-houses  and  prisons.  This  is 
plain  to  all.     Policemen,  soldiers,  and  higli-priced  govern- 


308  Evolution  and  Social  Reform: 

ment-officials  whose  services  are  not  worth  to  the  com- 
munitv  what  they  get  for  them,  are  certainly  not  producers, 
and  whether  they,  in  part,  serve  good  purposes  or  not  it 
remains  the  same  that  producers  are  forcibly  taxed  for 
their  support.  Workers  are  compelled  to  give  up  their 
wealth  to  support  law-makers  and  professional  destroyers 
of  property  and  life.  All  this  is  evident  notwithstanding 
that  part  of  it,  however  unfortunate,  is  inevitable  in  the 
present  state  of  social  development. 

But  besides  these  are  other  large  numbers  of  persons  who 
receive  what  they  do  not  produce.  Those  whose  incomes 
are  wholly  or  partly  derived  from  buying  and  selling  land 
are  regarded  by  Anarchists,  in  so  far  as  they  are  dealers  in 
land,  as  subsisting  upon  wealth  produced  by  the  labor  of 
others.  And  to  this  class  of  persons  belong  all  those  who 
collect  rents  —  that  is,  those  who  receive  for  the  use  of 
their  houses,  machinery  or  other  personal  effects  an  excess 
of  price  over  and  above  what  is  required  to  cover  compul- 
sory  taxes,  insurance   and   necessary    repairs   upon   such 

property.  i      i     •     j 

Those,  also,  whose  incomes  are  wholly  or  partly  derived 
from  interest,  or  the  rent  of  money,  are  regarded  by 
Anarchists,  as  appropriating  Avhat  others  produce.  And  so, 
too,  are  those  who,  in  buying  and  selling  or  manufacturing 
for  sale,  receive  as  the  result  of  such  production  and 
exchange  more  than  what  would  fairly  compensate  them  in 
the  form  of  Avages  for  their  actual  labor  in  superintending, 
producing  or  exchanging. 

In  plain  words,  Anarchists  regard  rent-takers,  or  land- 
lords, interest-takers,  or  what  Mr.  J.  K.  Ingalls  calls  lend- 
lords,  and  protit-takers,  or  trade-lords,  as  social  parasites. 
Or.  in  other  words.  Anarchists  believe,  and  think  they  can 
scientifically  prove,  that  anyone  who  receives  in  the  process 
of  wealth-distribution  more  than  what  represents  fair 
wages  for  productive  labor  — that  is,  more  than  he  actually 
produces  — appropriates  something  that  should  belong  to 
others,  and  thereby  helps  to  bind  a  load  of  inevitable 
poverty  upon  those  who  are  thus  defrauded  of  the  iruits 
of  their  industry. 

Let  us  look,  for  a  moment,  from  the  Anarchistic  stand- 
point, at  the  grounds  tor  tliis  belief. 

Land  is  unproduced.  It  is  not  tlie  result  of  human 
labor.     It  is  what  is  sometimes  called    a   natural    oppor- 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  309 

tunity.  It  is  the  passive  factor  in  the  production  of 
wealth.  Like  air  and  water  it  is  an  absolute  necessity  of 
human  life.  "When  man  appeared,  like  the  open  air  and 
water  running  in  the  streams  or  bubbling  from  tlie  springs, 
it  was  free  to  access  by  him.  Anarchists  believe  that  if, 
from  the  beginning,  of  human  exertions  upon  this  planet, 
each  man  had  been  content  to  possess  and  control  only  so 
much  land  as  he  could  productively  use,  the  supply  of  land 
free  for  use  always  would  have  been  and  now  would  be 
practically  as  unlimited  as  the  supply  of  air  and  running 
water,  and  that,  therefore,  it  never  would  have  commanded 
a  price  and  would  not  now  be  a  thing  to  buy  and  sell. 
They  believe  that  the  practice  of  owning  land  that  one 
cannot  and  does  not  wish  to  use,  excluding  others  from  its 
use,  has  given  rise  to  rent,  or  the  price  of  land ;  or,  to  jnit 
it  in  other  words,  that  the  monopoly  of  vacant  or  unused 
land  is  the  cause  of  rent.  Rent,  therefore,  does  not  repre- 
sent work  performed  or  wealth  produced  by  the  rent-taker. 
It  represents  wealth  transferred  from  a  jDroducer  to  a  non- 
producer  as  the  price  of  a  privilege  that  should  be  absolutely 
free  to  all.  It  is  evident  that  rent-takers,  as  such,  are 
idlers.  They  produce  nothing.  If,  then,  they  subsist  it 
must  be  at  the  expense  of  those  who  labor.  And  by  just 
so  much  as  they  are  rich  others  must  necessarily  be  poor. 
Rent  is  a  tribute  that  public  opinion  permits  non-producers 
to  levy  upon  producers  by  the  simple  contrivance  of  holding 
large  quantities  of  land  out  of  use. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  when  we  turn  to  the  subject 
of  interest.  Rent  is  the  product  of  labor  jiaid  to  idlers  for 
the  use  of  land.  Interest  is  the  product  of  labor  paid  to 
idlers  for  the  use  of  money.  Rent  is  interest  for  land; 
interest  is  rent  for  money.  Both  are  the  products  of 
monopoly.  IMoney  is  as  necessary  to  a  complicated  system 
of  trade  as  air,  water  and  land  are  to  life.  If  the  supply 
of  money  were  always  equal  to  the  demand  for  it  as  an 
implement  of  exchange,  each  person  would  always  have  as 
much  of  it  as  would  represent  labor  directly  performed  or 
products  of  labor  surrendered  by  him.  The  only  use  that 
money  should  have  is  to  indicate  that  so  much  labor  has 
been  directly  performed  or  so  nuich  wealth  surrendered  by 
the  possessor  of  it;  and  its  value  is  in  that  it  Avill  insure 
to  its  ])ossessor  the  return  of  a  corresponding  amount  of 
service  or  wealth  upon  demand.     It  is  not   in   the  least 


310  Evolution  and  Social  Reform  : 

necessary  that  it  should  possess  any  intrinsic  valne  other 
than  that  of  the  paper  on  which  it  is  written  or  printed  and 
the  labor  of  writing  or  printing  it. 

If  men  had  been  sufficiently  intelligent  from  the  start,  a 
perfect  system  of  money  would  have  grown  with  the 
growth  of  society,  and  each  person  always  Avould  have  ha^ 
precisely  as  much  money  as  he  deserved,  because  he  would 
not  have  parted  with  labor  or  its  products  without  getting 
a  full  representative  equivalent  in  money,  unless  the 
transaction  were  made  by  the  simple  process  of  barter,  in 
which  case  exchange  would  be  made  in  kind.  All  this  will 
be  more  or  less  unintelligible  to  the  average  conservative 
person,  but  it  will,  I  think,  become  plain  to  anyone  who 
will  thoughtfully  read  Stephen  Pearl  Andrews'  '-Science 
of  Society,"  especially  that  portion  of  the  work  devoted 
to  the  principle  therein  formulated  as  ''Cost  the  Limit  of 
Price,"  the  original  discovery  of  which  Mr.  Andrews 
ascribes  to  Josiah  Warren,  with  whose  works  I  am  not 
familiar.  To  this  book,  the  "Science  of  Society,"  I  am 
indebted  for  clear  and  satisfactory  ideas  of  the  true  nature 
and  uses  of  money. 

But  contrary  to  all  this  men  have  adopted  certain 
materials  for  money,  the  supply  of  Avhich,  relative  to  the 
demand,  is  very  limited ;  and  even  when  paper  is  used  for 
money  a  very  insufficient  quantity  is  permitted  to  circulate, 
being  sometimes  greater  and  sonietimes  less,  but  always 
under  the  control  of  persons  who  make  their  living  by 
handling  it,  and  by  whose  manipulations  producers  are 
see-sawed  out  of  their  earnings.  Money  is  monopolized. 
It  is  "cornered."  It  frequently  happens  that  a  man  has 
much  valuable  property  but  no  money.  Such  a  man  is 
obliged  to  go  to  those  Avho  control  the  supply  of  money 
and  hire  what  he  needs  at  rates  of  interest  which  could 
not  and  would  not  exist  if  money  were  not  monopolized. 

The  point  is  this :  Anarchists  believe  that  as  rent  would 
not  be  a  natural  product  of  harmoniously  organized  soci- 
ety, neither  would  interest.  They  clearly  see  that  interest- 
takers,  as  sucl),  are  non«j)roducers,  and  that,  therefore,  what 
they  subsist  on  must  in  some  unjust  way  have  been  taken 
from  the  industrious  persons  who  produced  it. 

With  regard  to  profits,  Anarcliists  believe  that  in  a  fair 
exchange  of  goods  for  goods  tliere  Avill  be  gain  to  both 
parties  to  tlie  Isargaiu  but  "j)rofit"  to  neither.     If  I  want 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  311 

yoxir  cow  more  than  I  want  my  own  horse  and  you  want 
my  liorse  more  than  you  want  your  own  cow  we  exchange 
beasts.  We  each,  by  the  trade,  gain  something,  but  neither 
makes  a  '' profit."  Profit  is  not  as  easily  separable  from 
wages  as  interest  or  rent,  because  what  is  called  wages  of 
superintendence  is  an  uncertain  quantity ;  but  it  may  be, 
"nevertheless,  accurately  defined  as  that  portion  of  the 
manufacturer's  or  merchant's  income  over  and  above  what 
he  should  receive  as  compensation  for  labor  actually  per- 
formed by  him.  And  Anarchists  believe  that  if  the  land 
and  money  monopolies  Avere  broken,  profits  would  dis- 
appear. This  needs  further  explanation,  but  the  limits  of 
this  address  do  not  admit  of  it.  I  must  leave  it  for  your 
future  reflection  or  stud}-,  if  you  are  not  already  familiar 
with  the  line  of  thought  involved. 

Anarchists  believe,  then,  that  poverty  results  from  the 
existence  of  social  parasites  —  persons  who  perform  no 
productive  labor  and  who  are  therefore,  necessarily,  sup- 
ported oiit  of  what  laborers  produce.  These  social  para- 
sites are  thieves  at  liberty,  criminals  in  prison,  gamblers, 
whether  with  cards,  dice  or  stocks ;  sharpers,  whether 
confidence-men  or  business-men ;  paupers,  whether  abroad 
or  in  poor-houses ;  policemen,  when  in  excess  of  actual 
need  for  the  protection  of  property  and  life ;  soldiers, 
unless  actually  necessary  to  repel  invasion ;  collectors  of 
compulsory  taxes ;  politicians  and  law-makers,  unless  we 
are  to  reject  the  time-honored  belief  of  many  of  the  wisest 
and  best  of  men  that  government  by  force  is,  at  best,  a 
"necessary  evil";  rent-takers,  interest-takers  and  profit- 
takers,  except  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  scientifically  proven 
that  rent,  interest  and  profits  are  the  necessary  outcome  of 
absolutely  free  contracts  between  persons  as  free  as  indi- 
viduals ever  can  be  under  any  possible  arrangement  of 
society. 

In  my  opinion,  the  most  thoughtful  Anarchists  are 
agreed  that,  in  any  possible  arrangement  of  society,  sporadic 
cases  of  rent,  interest  and  profits  might  arise,  but  the 
amounts  involved  would  be  too  insignificant  for  serious 
consideration  and  the  transactfons  would  represent  no 
injustice  whatever.  But  as  all  these  social  parasites  are 
the  products  of  a  social  arrangement  that  legitimates  rent, 
interest  and  profits,  Anarchists  believe  that  involuntary 
poverty  is  the  necessary  outcome   of,  and   is   completely 


312  Evolution  and  Social  Reform : 

accounted  for  by,  the  existence  of  rent,  interest  and 
profits.  These,  therefore,  must  disappear  before  the  liuman 
race  can  be  free,  wealthy  and  happy.  With  their  dis- 
appearance secondary  causes  of  poverty  Avill  naturally 
cease. 

This  explains  the  opposition  of  Anarchists  to  govern- 
ment by  physical  force.  They  know  that  those  bits  of 
paper  by  which  non-users  hold  land  vacant  are  legal  docu- 
ments. They  know  that  if  laborers  should  attempt  to 
exercise  what  should  be  their  right,  by  taking  possession  of 
vacant  land  for  productive  use,  the  whole  machinery  of 
government  by  ph3"sical  force  would  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  them,  and  if  nothing  else  would  avail  to  drive  them 
from  the  vacant  land  they  would  be  shot  to  death  by  gov- 
ernment powder  and  balls  from  government  guns  in  the 
hands  of  government  troops.  And  yet  the  only  crime  of 
Avhich  such  laborers  Avould  be  guilty  would  be  that  of 
trying  to  earn  an  honest  living  and  promote  the  happiness 
of  the  world  by  increasing  its  wealth  ;  their  only  crime 
would  be  that  of  wishing  to  apply  productive  labor  to  what 
we  call  natural  materials,  M-hich,  wlien  not  in  legitimate 
use,  should  be  free  to  all.  They  know,  in  short,  that  the 
man-starving  monopoly  of  vacant  land  is  authorized  and 
maintained  by  military  government. 

They  know,  also,  that  the  monopoly  of  money  is  sim- 
ilarly maintained  by  government.  Free  competition  with 
the  government  in  the  manufacture  and  uttering  of  money  is 
forcibly  prevented.  And  because  profits  arise  on  account 
of  the  monopoly  of  land  and  money  the  government  is  the 
creator  of  rent,  interest  and  profits,  the  baleful  trinity  in 
unity,  more  powerful  than  any  imaginary  bad  god  to  plunge 
the  human  race  into  poverty  and  so  into  misery  and  crime. 

Anarchists  believe,  still  further,  that  all  statute  laws  are 
necessarily  partial  and  unjust,  unless  you  choose  to  except 
laws  against  violence  and  theft.  It  is  impossible  to  devise 
a  statute  law  that  will  not  favor  some  persons  against 
others.  The  very  "machinery  of  justice,"  as  we  call  our 
judicial  system,  works  injustice  to  the  poor,  if  for  no  other 
reason,  because  as  between  a  litigant  Avith  money  and  a 
litigant  without  money  the  poor  man  may  Ije  defeated  by 
his  very  inability  to  bear  the  expenses  of  court-procedure. 

All  this  is  very  briefly  and  insufliciently  stated,  but 
Anarchists  believe  tliat  it  can  be  scientificallv  and    elab- 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  313 

orately  proved  that,  whetlier  government  is  a  ^^  necessary 
evil"  or  not,  it  is  necessaribj  evil  as  at  present  constituted 
anywhere  in  the  world. 

It  follows,  then,  that  Anarchists  desire  a  cessation  of 
military  government.  It  would  not,  however,  convey  the 
right  idea  to  say  that  they  wish  to  destroy  the  government. 
They  desire  that  society  should  grow  away  from  the 
necessity  for  government  by  physical  force  by  the  gradual 
and  general  acceptance  of  scientific  jirinciples  of  Sociology. 
The  Anarchistic  method  of  regenerating  society,  therefore, 
is  that  of  educating  the  people  in  scientific  principles  of 
social  co-operation  or  mutuality  ;  it  is  that  of  propaganda, 
of  calling  the  attention  of  the  people  to  facts  widely 
observed  and  logically  collated;  of  doing  just  Avhat  I  am 
doing  at  this  moment.  They  understand  that  all  existing 
governments  are  the  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people. 
Russia  is  ruled  by  a  Czar  because  most  of  the  people  of 
Russia  believe  that  is  the  best  form  of  government  for  them. 
Public  opinion  prevails  in  Russia  without  the  ballot  as 
effectually  as  with  us  through  the  ballot.  ]\Iilitary  protec- 
tion of  social  parasites  prevails  in  this  country  because 
most  of  our  peoi)le  believe  that  the  monopoly  of  vacant 
land  is  right  and  that  our  present  money  system  is  just  and 
fair,  precisely  as  they  once  believed  that  chattel  slavery 
Avas  a  divine  institution.  Most  of  our  people  are  firm 
believers  in  the  righteousness  of  rent,  interest  and  profits, 
and  the  large  owners  of  real-estate  and  holders  of  govern- 
ment-bonds are  commonly  believed  to  come  by  their  money 
honestly  and  fairly.  They  are  not  popularly  regarded  as 
monopolists  who  increase  their  riches  by  simply  appropri- 
ating what  others  j^roduce.  "While  such  beliefs  exist  society 
will  remain  very  much  as  it  is.  Nothing  can  bring  it  into 
Anarchistic  arrangement  but  a  general  recognition  of  the 
essential  injustice  of  all  wealth-getting  except  by  wealth 
producing.  Anarchists,  for  the  present,  therefore,  have 
nothing  rational  to  do  but  to  clarify  their  own  ideas, 
develop  their  science  and  teach  their  principles. 

I  have  already  explained  why  it  would  be  absurd  for 
them  to  wage  war  for  their  principles.  They  know  that 
nothing  is  ever  settled  by  being  fought  out ;  all  right 
consummations  must  be  thought  out.  ]\Iany  Anarchists 
think,  also,  that  it  would  be  absurd  for  them  to  resort  to 
political  methods.     A  ballot  means  a  bullet.     The  decision 


314  Evolution  and  Social  Reform : 

of  a  majority  at  an  election  holds  because  the  army  is 
behind  it.  But  Anarchists,  even  if  they  were  in  a  majority, 
would  not  wish  to  impose  their  will  on  a  minority.  In  the 
opinion  of  very  many  Anarchists,  therefore,  the  ballot  is, 
for  their  use,  a  stultifying  implement.  But  even  if  it  were 
not  it  would  not  be  employed  by  them,  because  they  regard 
it  as  useless.  They  believe  that  when  public  opinion 
favors  a  violation  or  the  ignoring  of  a  statute  law  it  is  not 
necessary  to  vote  that  law  oif  the  statute-books.  It  will 
become  inoperative ;  a  dead  letter,  as  we  say.  And  as 
Anarchists  can  have  nothing  to  vote  for  except  the  abroga- 
tion of  existing  laws,  manifestly  voting,  in  their  case, 
would  be  a  work  of  supererogation. 

For  example  :  All  Anarchists  are  necessarily  free-traders  j 
but  most  Anarchists  will  not  vote  with  the  Democrats, 
because  they  know  that  when  public  sentiment  favors  free 
trade  custom-houses  and  custom  ofticers  will  disappear. 
No  army  was  ever  yet  organized  that  could  force  a  nation 
to  pay  duties  or  do  anything  else  against  the  public  sen- 
timent of  that  nation. 

Anarchists  point  to  the  statute-books  of  every  nation 
and  every  old  State  in  this  nation  for  evidence  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  fight  or  vote  laws  into  desuetude.  Multitudes 
of  laws  which  have  never  been  abrogated  are  absolutely 
inoperative.  They  are  so  dead  that  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  expunge  them  from  the  records.  I  believe  the  old 
Connecticut  blue-laws  have  never  been  repealed,  but  there 
is  not  power  enough  at  the  command  of  the  Governor  of 
that  State  or  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  enforce 
them  in  the  present  temper  of  public  oi)inion.  There  is  a 
law  in  the  District  of  Columbia  providing  that  an  offender 
shall  be  bored  through  the  tongue  for  denying  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  or  something  of  that  sort.  But  it  is  so 
paralyzed  by  public  odium  that  it  is  impossible  to  enforce 
it  and  unnecessary  to  abolish  it. 

The  New  York  Grocers'  Association  is  a  current  illustra- 
tion of  how  laws  against  tlie  collection  of  debts  will,  I 
think,  fall  into  disuse.  Anarchists  object  very  strongly  to 
laws  against  the  collection  of  debts.  They  think  a  debt  is 
contracted  by  a  private  arrangement  with  which  the  State 
should  have  nothing  to  do ;  that  State  interference  for  the 
collection  of  debts  tends  to  greatly  reduce  business  integrity ; 
that  commercial  morality  would  immediately  reach  a  much 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  315 

higher  than  its  present  plane  if  all  financial  transactions 
were  effected  upon  individual  honor ;  that  the  dangerous, 
the  ruinous  credit-system  of  doing  biisiness  would  be 
desirably  modified  if  laws  for  the  collection  of  debts  by 
force  were  abolished.  Indeed,  some  Anarchists  think  that 
the  abolition  of  laws  for  the  collection  of  debts  would  go 
very  far  toAvard  reorganizing  society  upon  a  just  basis. 
But,  important  as  this  measure  is,  they  deem  it  unnecessary 
to  vote  for  it,  because,  in  time,  the  experience  of  business- 
men will  demonstrate  that  such  laws  are  futile  and  unneces- 
sary, and  when  a  law  goes  out  of  use  under  the  action  of 
popular  opinion  its  disappearance  produces  no  friction,  for 
it  ceases  because  no  one  desires  it  any  longer. 

To  fight  down  slavery  was  a  mistake  followed  by  inevita- 
ble unhappy  conditions  until  now.  If  slavery  had  been 
let  alone  until  it  crumbled  away  there  would  have  succeeded 
its  disappearance  no  sad  and  vexing  negro-problem.  This 
was  the  wish  of  Garrison  and  his  friends,  very  good 
Anarchists,  who  denounced  the  government  and  burned  the 
Constitution  because  they  upheld  chattel  slavery  as  they 
sustain  indirect  slavery  to-day,  and  who  contemplated  the 
use  of  no  other  than  intellectual  and  moral  weapons  against 
the  abomination.  If  Garrison's  policy  of  propaganda  and 
passive  resistance  had  been  followed,  the  institution  of 
chattel  slavery  would  not  have  disappeared  as  suddenly  as 
it  did,  but  it  would  inevitably  have  fallen  to  pieces,  little 
by  little,  without  leaving  soldier  blood  and  a  national  debt 
where  it  fell.  It  would  have  fallen  without  the  use  of  a 
bullet  or  a  ballot. 

The  Anarchist,  then,  at  present  is  simply  a  propagandist, 
by  word  and  passive  deed.  He  talks  and  writes  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  refrains  from  doing  those  things  that  to  him 
are  useless  and  Avrong.  He  ceases  to  exercise  the  privilege 
of  the  franchise.  If  he  is  entirely  consistent  he  will 
receive  nothing  that  he  does  not  earn,  except  by  gift.  If 
he  believes  that  it  is  Avise  for  him  to  become  a  martyr  for 
purposes  of  propaganda  he  will  refuse  to  pay  taxes  and 
take  the  consequences,  without  physical  resistance.  An- 
archists, however,  as  a  rule  are  not  what  is  commonly  called 
fanatical.  They  rely  more  iipon  words,  for  the  present, 
than  upon  deeds.  But  when  they  become  more  numerous 
the  method  of  passive  resistance  will,  no  doubt,  be  resorted 
to. 


316  Evolution  and  Social  Reform  : 

For  example :  By  general  consent  among  a  large  inimber 
in  a  given  locality,  tliey  may  refuse  to  pay,  nucler  compul- 
sion, their  taxes,  offering,  of  course,  to  resign  all  claims  to 
governmental  protection,  and  perhaps  offering  voluntarily 
to  contribute  toward  the  maintenance  of  those  communal 
undertakings  of  which  they  approve  ;  or  they  may  go  upon 
vacant  land  to  use  it,  suffering  themselves  to  be  evicted, 
unless  public  opinion  sustains  them  ;  or  they  may  attempt 
to  circulate  mutual  bank  or  credit  money.  In  two  words, 
the  Anarchistic  method,  for  the  present,  is  propaganda,  but 
when  they  believe  themselves  to  be  in  sufficient  numbers 
they  will  probably  resort  to  passive  resistance. 

Upon  this  presentation  they  may  appear  to  be  very 
impractical,  but  if  what  I  have  so  brietl}^  said  is  thought- 
fully considered,  and  if  it  is  remembered  that  Anarchistic 
opinion  as  it  grows  will  constantly  be  registering  itself  by 
the  platform-makers  and  law-makers,  I  think  the  conclusion 
will  be  reached  that  Anarchists  are  not  characteristically 
dreamers,  but  are  sane  students  of  history  and  human 
nature. 

Let  me  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  a  case  that  is  before 
the  public  mind  at  this  mome^it.  Anarchists  are  opposed 
to  capital  punishment,  and  they  observe  with  complacent 
pleasure  the  growing  sentiment  against  the  barbarous 
practice.  A  bill  for  its  abolition  recently  passed  the  Kew 
York  Assembly  but  was  defeated  in  the  Senate.  The 
introduction  of  this  bill  in  the  New  York  Legislature 
exemplifies  the  tendency  of  the  politicians  to  reflect  public 
o})inion  in  the  making  or  unmaking  of  laws  ;  but  the  facts 
regarding  the  practice  of  capital  punishment  also  show 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  no  concern  whatever  what  legislatures 
do  or  fail  to  do  in  tlie  premises.  I  do  not  know  how  many 
murders  Avere  committed  in  New  York  State  last  year,  but 
there  were  only  eight  executions ;  and  although  there  Avere 
reported  during  the  same  year  3567  murders  and  homicides 
as  having  occurred  in  the  United  States,  there  Avere  but 
ninety-eight  hangings.  The  death-penalty  is  gradually 
abolishing  itself,  and  whether  the  laws  on  the  subject 
remain  on  the  statute-books  or  not,  the  practice  of  hanging 
in  this  country  will  soon  be  given  u]).  Tliis  method  of 
abolisliing  an  obnoxious  law  is  Anarchistic  or  evolutionary; 
and  it  should  1)6  understood  that  the  Anarchistic  metliod  is 
always  and  in  every  particular  the  application  of,  or,  rather, 


The  Anarchistic  Method.  317 

conformity  to,  the  principles  of  evolution  in  the  progress 
of  society. 

From  the  presentation  that  I  have  made  of  this  subject, 
it  should  be  seen  by  the  most  conservative  mind  that 
Anarchism  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  old-fashioned 
American  idea  that  that  government  is  best  which  governs 
least.  The  present  apparent  tendency  of  thought  is  toward 
the  idea  that  that  government  is  best  that  governs  most  — 
State  Socialism,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  its  distinctively  Amer- 
ican form,  Xationalism.  Between  these  two  ideas  we  are 
slowly  but  surely  being  forced  to  choose.  The  question  is 
immediately  before  us  :  whether  government  shall,  little  by 
little,  increase  its  functions,  or  little  by  little  decrease  its 
functions  ;  whether  government  shall  become  more  central- 
ized or  society  more  flexible  ;  whether  the  individual  shall 
be  more  and  more  subordinated  to  the  State  or  more  and 
more  free  to  pursue  in  his  own  way,  life,  liberty  and 
happiness.  Anarchists  believe  that  the  State  should 
decrease  and  the  individual  increase  ;  that  the  most  har- 
monious society  will  be  composed  of  individuals  who  are 
controlled  by  reason,  governed  by  moral  considerations  ;  and 
that  the  removal  of  restrictions  upon  industry  and  trade, 
the  cessation  of  partial,  monopolistic  legislation,  will  conduce 
to  the  development  of  men  who  will  be  able  to  sustain 
social  relations  to  each  other  without  necessity  for  the 
imaginary  terrors  of  supernaturalism  or  the  real  compulsion 
of  military  government.  ]\Iutualism  between  free  individ- 
uals is  the  doctrine  of  Anarchism.  To  rationally  and 
peacefully  decrease  the  powers  of  compulsory  government 
is  the  method  of  Anarchism. 

There  are  two  questions  which  Anarchists  are  frequently 
called  upon  to  answer.  The  first  of  these  is :  How  can 
communal  xtndertakings  be  accomplished  without  some 
governmental  authority  ?  How  can  sewers  and  stn-ets  be 
made  and  supervised  without  some  centralized  restraining 
or  compelling  power  ?  How  could  boundaries  to  land, 
and  all  those  inatters  that  are  now  defined  bylaw, —  and 
disputes  about  which  are  settled  in  the  courts, —  be  deter- 
mined ?  To  all  these  questions  Anarchists  can  no  more 
give  definite  answers  than  tlit-y  can  tell  what  the  fashion 
in  hats  will  be  in  the  year  2UO0.  All  they  can  do  is  to 
appeal  to  history  and  show  that  men  have  learned  how  to 
do  many  things  without  the  aid  of  government,  for  the 


318  Evolution  and  Social  Reform. 

doing  of  which  government  was  once  believed  to  be  neces- 
sary, and  to  reason  with  apparent  warrant  that  men  are 
capable  of  learning  how  to  do  in  the  future  much  that  now 
seems  difficult  or  impossible.  It  it  is  remembered  that 
Anarchists  suppose  that  men  must  learn  how  to  do  many 
things  by  voluntary  association  better  than  they  are  done 
or  can  be  done  by  present  methods,  before  they  will  cease 
to  be  done  by  governmental  compulsion,  the  question  will 
be  answered  as  well  as  it  can  be  in  a  single  sentence.  The 
best  fire-department  is  that  which  insurance  companies 
equip  for  their  own  interests ;  the  best  schools  are  private 
schools,  else  why  do  they  continue  in  unequal  competition 
with  public  schools  ?  There  is  no  good  reason  why  men 
should  not  yet  learn  how  to  build  the  best  roads  and  sewers 
and  other  communal  works  without  the  services  of  armed 
constables  or  policemen.  To  suppose  otherwise  is  to 
strangely  limit  the  capabilities  of  the  human  mind,  which 
has  already  accomplished  enough  once  apparent  impos- 
sibilities to  warrant  very  considerable  faith  in  its  ability  to 
meet  all  future  social  requirements  and  practically  solve 
all  future  social  problems. 

The  other  question  to  which  I  referred  is  :  How  long 
will  it  be  before  Anarchism  will  or  may  be  practically 
realized?  To  this  the  Anarchist  replies  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  tell.  Evolution  is  slow  up  to  a  certain  point,  at 
which  point  events  shape  themselves  with  astonishing 
rapidity.  We  can  never  tell  at  just  what  stage  of  evolu- 
tion we  are.  Unforeseen  circumstances  often  precipitate 
accomplisliments  which  apparently  belong  to  the  remote 
future.  But  with  the  question,  *' When  ?"  Anarchists  do 
not  much  concern  themselves.  What  is  long  to  human 
life  is  short  as  a  historical  period.  The  Anarchist  is  a 
scientist ;  it  is  for  him  to  announce  his  discovery.  He  is 
a  philosopher ;  it  is  for  him  to  earnestly  labor  and  patiently 
wait.  He  believes  he  has  discovered  certain  sociological 
facts;  he  believes  that  all  men  will  in  time  come  to 
acknowledge  them  as  facts.  For  what  is  gained  while  he 
lives  he  rejoices:  but  if  little  is  accomplished  before  his 
work  is  done  he  does  not  despair.  He  sees  of  the  travail 
of  his  soul  and  is  satisfied. 


Twentieth    Century 


HUGH  O.   PENTECOST,  Editor. 


Each  number  contains  the  address  of  the  editor,  delivered  the  pre- 
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Motto 


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Voluntary  Cooperation  instead  of  Compulsory  Cooperation,  the  Lib- 
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Sotne  Important  Articles  that  have  appeared 
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(Poem);  The  Coming  Civilization. 
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about  Agnosticism ;  Historj-  of  the  Free  Religious  Association  ;  The  F.  R.  A. 

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EDWARD  BELLAMY,  Nationalism. 
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FREDERIC  A.  HINCKLEY,  The  First  and  Great  Commandment ;  The  Com- 

monwealtli  of  Man. 
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Convention  ;  What  the  F.  R.  A.  might  Do. 

B.  F.  UNDERWOOD,  Social  Conditions  and  Tendencies. 

F.  E.  ABBOT,  Ph.D.,  Creative  Liberalism  ;  The  Dependence  of  Ethics;  series 
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F.  M.  HOLLAND,  Robert  Elsmere;"  The  Exile  (Song);  Lucifer's  Umbrella  (A 
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eralism offer  the  Workingman  ?  A  Socialistic  Object-Lesson ;  Industrial 
Training  as  a  Remedv. 

DR.  EDMUNT)  MONTGOMERY.  Has  Mf)ralit>-  an  Evolutional  or  an  Eternal 
Basis  ?  Supernatural  Ethics  Irrational  and  Immoral ;  Fatalistic  Science  and 
Human  Self-Determination  ;  Nationalism  or  Individualism?  The  Naturalistic 
Foundations  of  Nationalism. 

DR.  LEWIS  G.  JANES,  The  Ideal  Liberal  Church ;  The  Evolution  of  the  Earth ; 
A  Brotherhood  of  Consent. 

DR.  C.  T.  STOCKWELL,  AVhat  Shall  Liberals  do  with  their  Children  ?  The 
Top  of  the  Coach. 

A.  N.  ADAMS,  Agnosticism  and  Religion;  A  Study  of  Religion  and  Science; 
Reason  and  Religion. 

REV.  PERRY  .MARSHALL,  "  Pure  Religion  "  ;  The  Evolution  of  Religion ; 
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M.  EMILY  ADAMS,  Children's  Sundays  ;  Hospitals  not  Creations  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

ELLEN'  31.  MITCHELL,  The  Freedom  of  Fate. 

CHAS.  D.  B.  MILLS.  Whether  a  New  Religion  or  Not. 

C.  1!.  HOFFMAN,  Integral  Co-operation  in  Mexico. 
STARR  H.  NICHOLS.  The  Materialistic  Theorv  of  Society. 

HORACE  L.  TR AUBEL.  For  the  Party's  Sake  ;  Solution  (Poem) ;  Notes  on  the 
Recent  Ethical  Convention;  Brave  art  Thou  in  Another's  Speech  (PoeuD; 
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CHAS.  K.  WHIPPLE.  Testimony  the  Basis  of  History ;  Intellectual  Dishonesty ; 
"The  Bible  Savs." 

CAPT.  R.  C.  ADA.'VIS.  Something  Better. 

GEORGE  AV.  BUCKLEY,  Politics  and  Morals. 

ELIZABETH  B.  CHACE.  AVoman  and  Current  Reforms. 

B.  AV.  BALL.  Romanism  and  Americ-an  Liberty  ;  The  Future  American  Citizen. 
MRS.  B.  F.  UNDERAVC )()!>.  The  Pbilosoi)hic  Spirit  vs.  Egotism. 

MRS.  CLARA  M.  BISBEE,  Freethought  and  Ethics. 

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A    BOOK   FOB    TJRLTS-LOVEMS. 


A  ^tudy  of  Prifflitive  Christianity 


BY    LEWIS    G.  JANES. 


Jteviaed  Edition.     319pp.  Svo.     Cloth,  Price,  $1.50, 

Treats  of  the  natural  evolution  of  the  Christian  Religion,  ac- 
cording to  the  historical  method  ;  applying  the  assured  results  of 
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the  investigation  of  his  life  and  teaching,  and  the  development  of 
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COXTEXTS: 

Preface,  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Chad^vick.    Author's  Preface  to  Second  Edition. 

Introduction.  I. — Palestine  in  the  Roman  Period.  II. — Society  and  Religion 
in  the  Roman  Empire.  III. —  Sources  of  Information.  IV. —  Theological 
Aspects  of  the  Religion  of  Jesus.  V. —  Social  Aspects  of  the  Religion  of  .Jesus. 
VI.— Myth  and  Miracle  in  the  Gospel  Stories.  VII.— The  Christianity  of  Paul. 
VIII.— The  .A.postolic  Age.  IX.— The  MartjT  Period.  X.— Christianity  the 
State  Religion. 

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Treats  such  topics  as  The  Origin  of  Goodness,  The  Nature  of  Goodness,  The 
Sense  of  Obligation^  The  Relativity  of  Duty,  Morality  and  Religion  in  the  Fu- 
ture, etc.,  etc.  "  AVe  all  owe  Mr.  Savage  thanks  for  the  eamestne.ss,  frankness, 
and  ability  with  which  he  has  here  illustrated  the  modern  scientific  methods  of 
dealing  with  histon-.  philosophy,  and  morality."  "The  book  is  a  fund  of  intel- 
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the  day,  "whether  of  expectation  or  of  doubt. 

The  Faith  of  Reason.    By  Johx  "TV.  Chadwick.    254  pages,  SI. 00. 

A  series  of  Discourses  on  the  Leading  Topics  of  ReUgion :  The  Nature  of  Re- 
ligion, God,  Immortality,  Prayer,  Morals.  "Free,  original,  brave,  manly  speech 
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Creed  and  Deed.      By  Felix  Abler.      A  series  of  Essays  from 

the  standpoint  of  Ethical  Culture.     SI. 00. 

Includes  essavs  on  Immortality.  Religion.  Spinoza,  The  Founder  of  Christi- 
anity, Reformecl  Judaism,  and  others.  "Mr.  Adler  is  always  strong,  always 
progressive,  a  thought-awakener,  a  worker,  and  practical." 

The  Evolution  of  Immortality.  Suggestions  of  an  IndiA-idual  Im- 
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Stockwell.  Cloth,  12mo,  gilt  top,  uncut  edges,  69  pages, 
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One  of  the  most  suggestive  and  best  developed  essays  on  personal  immortal- 
ity which  later  years  have  produced. — Literary  World. 

Uplifts  of  Heart  and  Will.      A  Series  of  Religious  Meditations, 

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'•  On  purely  rational  grounds  it  is  not  easy  to  meet  the  position  [of  this  little 
book],  except  liy  saying  that  the  words  and  forms  of  our  [usual]  devotion  must 
be  accepted  as  "?>'( ;(/,"/;/  sijinOolic.  and  xot  ameiutblc  to  the  understanding/. 
*  *  *  It  is  good  to  welcome  a  religious  science  better  than  the  old  hard  bigotry-. 
Still,  while  we  by  no  means  accept  these  •  Cplifts'  as  a  necessarj-  or  an  adequate 
substitute  for  tlie  customary  exercises  of  devotion,  they  are  at  least  better  fitted 
than  the  ordinary  practice  to  a  state  of  minil  far  from  "uncommon,  and  greatly 
deserving  of  respect." — From  a  sevcn-jia'jr  notice  in  the  Unitarian  Itcvieiv. 

Evolution  :  A  Summary  of  Evidence.    By  Capt.  Robt.  C.  Adams, 
Author    of    "Travels    in   Faith  from  Tradition  to  Reason." 
Pamj^hlet,  44  pages,  25  cents. 
"An  admirable  presentation  and  summing  up  of  the  Evolution  Argument." 

Man,  ^A^oman  and  Child.     By  M.  J.  Savage.     200  pages,  Si. 00. 

A  b<iok  on  marriage,  divorce,  the  home,  the  education  of  sons  and  daughters, 
the  rights  of  women,  the  duties  and  (ipi)ortunities  of  all.  "No  one  can  read  it 
withoiit  breadth  of  view,  without  a  growng  sjniipathy  and  tenderness,  without 
resolves  to  be  a  better  man  or  woman,  worthier  to  love  and  be  loved." 

%*  Any  of  the  above  sent  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by 

Tue  New  Ideal  Company. 


JflJVIES   H.  WEST,  Publisher,  Boston. 

EVOLUTION    ESSAYS,  —  FIRST    SERIES. 

[From  Herbert  Spencer.] 
"  The  mode  of  presentation  seems  to  me  admirably  adapted  for 
popularizing  Evolution  views." 

\^^  NOW    READY,  ^^ji 

1.  Herbert  Spencer:  His  life,  wTitings,  and  philosophy. 

Daniel  Greenleaf  Thompson. 

2.  Charles  Robert  Darwin :  His  life,  works,  and  influence. 

Rev.  John  W.  Chadwick. 

3.  Solar  and  Planetary  Evolution :  How  suns  and  worlds  come  into  being. 

Garrett  P.  Serviss. 

4.  Evolution  of  the  Earth :  The  story  of  geology.  Dr.  Lewis  G.  Janes. 

5.  Evolution  of  Vegetal  Life  :  William  Potts. 

6.  Evolution  of  Animal  Life :  Rossiter  W.  Raymond,  Ph.D. 

7.  The  Descent  of  Man  :  His  origin,  antiquity,  growth.  E.  D.  Cope,  Ph.D. 

8.  Evolution  of  Mind :  Its  nature  and  development.        Dr.  Robert  G.  Eccles. 

9.  Evolution  of  Society :  Families,  tribes,  states,  classes.      James  A.  Skilton. 

10.  Evolution  of  Theology :  Development  of  religious  beliefs. 

Z.  Sidney  Sampson. 

11.  Evolution  of  Morals:  Egoism,  altruism,  utilitarianism,  etc. 

Dr.  Lewis  G.  Janes. 

12.  Proofs  of  Evolution:  The  eight  main  scientific  arguments. 

Nelson  C.  Parshall. 

13.  Evolution  as  Related  to  Religious  Thought.  Rev.  John  W.  Chadwick. 

14.  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution :  Its  relation  to  prevailing  systems. 

Starr  H.  Nichols. 

15.  The  Effects  of  Evolution  on  the  Coming  Civilization.  Rev.  Minot  J.  Savage. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  publication  of  these  lectures  may  aid  soci- 
eties and  individuals  throughout  the  country,  in  organizing  and 
conducting  classes  in  the  study  of  Evolution,  and  thereby  prepare 
many  minds  for  an  intelligent  and  systematic  perusal  of  the  more 
voluminou.s  and  scientific  works  of  Darwin,  Spencer,  and  other 
standard  authorities.       

Subscriptions  for  the  Fifteen  Lectures  above  enumerated  will  be  received  for 

$1.50. 
Single  copies  of  any  lecture  may  be  had  for  10  cents  each. 


EVOLUTION    ESSAYS.  —  SPECIAL    ISSUES. 


([^^  Now  Eeady.  ^j^  (Each  10  Cents.) 

The    Moral   and   Religious   Aspects   of    Herbert   Spencer's    Phi- 
losophy.    By  SvLVAX  Dkev. 
"  An  able  popular  interpreter  of  the  evolution  philosophy." 

A  Study  of  Matter  and  Motion.     By  Hon.  A.  N.  Adams, 
And  others  to  be  announced. 

Address  James  II.  West,  Publisher, 

190  Summer  Street,  BOSTON". 


■  SOCIOLOGICAL  •  EVOLUTIO,\ 


I. 

Brooklyn  Ethical  Associ- 
ation Lectures. 


THE   SCOPE  AND  PRINCIPLES  OF 
THE  EVOLUTION  PHILOSOPHY 


BY 


LEWIfS   G.   JANES 

Author  of  "A  SxtiDV  of  Primitive  Christianity,"  "Thk  Evoli'tion-  of 
THE  Earth,'"  "P^voi.utiox  of  Morals,"  etc.,  ktc 


HdSTOX  : 

JAMES    11.   WEST,    i'il!Lisiii.;j{ 

190  Summer  Street 

1889 


COLLATERAL  READINGS  SUGGESTED. 

Spencer's  "First  Principles,"  "  Principles  of  Psycliolofjy,"  and 
"Principles  of  Socioloj^y;"  Fiske's  "  Cosmic  Philosopliy  "  ;  Wal- 
lace's "Darwinism"  ;  Thompson's  "A  System  of  Psycliology"  ; 
Huxley  and  Wace's  "Christianity  and  Agnosticism";  Ahbot's 
"Scientific  Theism,"  and  "  The  Philosophy  of  Free  Religion,"  in 
The  New  Ideal;  Case's  "Physical  Itealism"  ;  (Jarus's  "Fun- 
damental Problems"  :  \V.  B.  Carpenter's  "Nature  and  Man." 

(2) 


THE    SCOPE    AND    PRINCIPLES    OF    THE 
EVOLUTION     PHILOSOPHY.* 


SixcE  the  interesting  biological  lectures  of  our  last 
year's  course  Avere  delivered,  a  noteworthy  contribution  has 
been  made  to  that  department  of  evolutional;}'  thought,  by 
the  publication  of  Alfred  Eussel  Wallace's  "  Darwinism  : 
An  Exposition  of  the  Theory  of  Natural  Selection,  with 
some  of  its  Applications."  A  co-discoverer  with  Charles 
Darwin  of  the  law  of  Xatural  Selection,  Mr.  Wallace  re- 
sembles him  as  a  writer  in  the  simplicity  and  lucidity  of 
his  style ;  and  the  wealth  of  facts  with  which  he  has  illus- 
trated his  discussion  of  the  subject,  indicating  the  utmost 
patience  and  thoroughness  of  research,  is  nowhere  equaled 
save  in  those  epoch-making  books  which  indicated  Darwin 
as  the  foremost  naturalist  of  his  own,  or,  perhaps  it  Avould 
not  be  too  much  to  say,  of  any  time. 

Writing  thirty  years  after  the  publication  of  "The 
Origin  of  Species,"  and  in  the  light  of  all  the  objections 
Avhich  have  been  brought  against  the  theory  of  Xatural 
Selection,  Mr.  Wallace  declares  that  Darwin  "  did  his  work 
so  well  that  '  descent  with  modification '  is  now  universally 
accepted  in  the  organic  world;  and  the  rising  genera- 
tion of  naturalists  can  hardlv  realize  the  novelty  of  this 
idea,  or  that  their  fathers  considered  it  a  scientific  heresy 
to  be  condemned  rather  than  seriously  discussed."  In  the 
defense  of  "Xatural  Selection  "  as  the  fundamental  law  of 
biological  evolution,  jNIr.  Wallace  is  even  more  of  a  Dar- 
winian than  Darwin  himself — showing,  it  would  seem  con- 
clusively, that  many  of  those  variations  which  Darwin 
attributed  to  sexual  selection,  can  be  explained  by  natural 
selection,  including  nearly  all  those  brilliant  colors  in  the 
ornamentation  of  male  birds  and  animals  which  Darwin 
assigned  to  the  choice  or  preference  of  the  female. 

Mr.  Wallace  also  trenchantly  criticises  the  su})posed  luw 
of  use  and  disuse  as  aifecting  biological  evolution, —  the  so- 
called  "Lamarckian  factor,"  —  the  importance  of  which 
*  Copyright,  1880,  by  Jaiues  H.  West. 


4  Tlie   Scoj)e  and  l'rtiic!j>Ies 

was  explicitly   admitted  by   Darwin,  though  that  fact  is 
often  iguort'd  by  his  critics,  and  has  been  emphasized  by 
Mr.   Spencer  in  his   "Factors  of   Organic  Evolution,"  as 
well  as  by  l^rof.  Cope,  Dr.  Eaymond,  and  the  American 
School  of  Evolutionists  generally.     ''  There  is  now  much 
reason,"  Mr.  Wallace  declares,  "to   believe  that  the  sup- 
posed  inheritance  of   acquired  modifications  —  that  is,  of 
the  effects  of  use  and  disuse,  or  of  the  direct  influence  of 
the  environment — is  not  a  fact,  and  if  so,  the  very  foun- 
dation is  taken  away  from  the  Avhole  class  of  objections  on 
which  such  stress  is  now  laid."     Such  effects,  for  exam- 
ple, as  the  diminished  jaw  in  civilized  man,  and  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  muscles  used  in  closing  the  jaw  in  case  of 
pet  dogs  which  are  fed  on  soft  food,  are  wholly  accounted 
for  by  the  simple  fact  of  the  withdrawal  of  natural  selec- 
tion  in  keeping  up    the   parts  in  question  to   their  full 
dimensions,  in  connection  Avith  Mr.  Galton's  law  of  "Re- 
gression  toward   Mediocrity,"  whereby,  it  has  been  been 
proved  experimentally,  there  is  a  tendency  of  organs  which 
have  been  increased  by  natural  selection,  to  revert  to  a 
mean  or  average  size,  whenever  the  stress  of  circumstances 
which   compelled   the   operation   of   this  law  is  removed. 
Investigating  the   supposed  effects  of   use  and   disuse  in 
wild   animals,  Mr.  Wallace   notes   the   circumstance   that 
"  the  very  fact  of  use,  in  a  wild  state,  implies  vtillfi/,  and 
utility  is  the  constant  subject  for  the   action   of   natural 
selection ;  while  among  domestic  animals  those  parts  which 
are  exceptionally  used  are  so  used  in  the  service  of  man, 
and    thus    become    the    subjects    of    artificial    selection." 
"  There  are  no  cases  among  wild  animals,"  he  says,  "  which 
may  not  be  better  explained  by  variation  and  natural  selec- 
tion," than  by  the  law  of  use  or  disuse.     He  quotes  Gal- 
ton,  and  Trof.  Weismann  in  his  recently  published  "  Essays 
on  Heredity," — two  of   the  most  careful  students  of   tliis 
subject,  — in    support    of    the    non-heredity    of    acquired 
variations;   and  on  the  whole  makes  an  exceedingly  strong 
argument   in  favor  of   natural  sehu^tion  as  the  great  and 
controlling  factor  in  organic  evolution.     Prof.  Cope  and  the 
American  evolutionists,  he  says,  "have  introduced  theoret- 
ical conce])tions  which  have  not  yet  been  tested  by  exi)eri- 
ments  or  facts,  as  well  as  metaidiysical  conceptions  which 
are  incapable  of  proof.     And  when  tliey  come  to  illustrate 
these  views  by  an  appeal  to  i)ala',ontology  «»r  morphology, 


of  the  Evolution  J'lnhisopJiy.  5 

we  find  that  a  far  simpler  and  more  complete  explanation  of 
the  facts  is  afforded  by  the  established  principles  of  vari- 
ation and  natnral  selection."  Mr.  Wallace's  general  conclu- 
sion is  that  all  other  laAvs  and  factors  in  organic  evolution 
"  must  have  operated  in  entire  subordination  to  the  law  of 
natural  selection," — a  conclusion  which  he  supports  by 
logical  argument  from  such  a  wealth  of  accumulated  facts, 
that  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  for  his  opponents  si;  cess- 
fully  to  combat  his  views. 

While  asserting  the  continuity  of  man's  progress  from 
the  brute,  and  of  the  higher  animals  from  the  protoplasmic 
cell,  Mr.  Wallace  believes  that  at  three  definite  stages  in 
the  progress  of  organic  evolution  there  has  been  an  in- 
troduction of  new  causes,  not  involved  in  nor  evolved 
from  the  forces  previously  operating.  These  are,  1st.,  the 
change  from  inorganic  to  organic  life,  otherwise  involved 
in  the  conception  of  spontaneous  generation ;  L'nd,  the  in- 
troduction of  sensation  or  consciousness,  which  "is  still 
more  marvelous,  still  more  completely  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  explanation  by  matter,  its  laws  and  forces  " ;  and, 
3rd,  the  development  of  certain  noble  characteristics'  and 
faculties  in  man,  as,  for  example,  his  moral  and  intellectual 
nature,  and  the  mathematical,  artistic  and  musical  facul- 
ties, which  differentiate  him  from  the  brute  animals,  indi- 
cate the  reality  of  a  spiritual  universe,  and  prophetically 
assure  an  immortal  life  for  the  spiritual  nature  of  man. 

His  peculiar  views  on  these  topics  will  probably  appear 
more  or  less  reasonable  to  different  persons  according  to 
their  temperamental  tendencies  and  educational  bias ;  but 
no  one,  I  think,  can  lay  down  this  book  without  a  convic- 
tion of  the  great  ability  and  transparent  sincerity  of  its 
author,  of  its  pre-eminent  value  as  a  contribution  to  the 
general  literature  of  evolution,  and  of  the  weight  of  its 
argument^  in  defense  of  Natural  Selection  as  a  controlling 
factor  in  organic  development.* 

Evolution  may  be  true,  in  the  field  of  biology,  it  may 
yet  be  said,  but  what  of  it  ?  Man  may  .be  the  descendant 
of   an  anthropoid  ape,  "probably  arboreal  in  its  habits," 


*Xote  should  also  lie  made  of  Trof.  Aujrelo  lleil]irin's  recently  imlilished 
liook  on  "The  Iteniuida  Islands,"  wliicli  contains  a  carelul  study  ol  the  lor- 
niation  of  coral  reefs,  contirniiiij;-  Darwin's  theories  on  this  subject,  whit'h 
some  recent  writers  have  lirou^ht  in  iiuestion.  The  tendency  of  the  most 
recent  studies  has  uniiuestionalily  hecn  to  stren<ithen  the  hi;ih  rcfiard  in 
which  Darwin  has  hecn  justly  helil  as  a  careful,  conscientious  investigator  and 
safe  theorizer  in  the  liolii  of  evt)lutionary  research. 


6  The  Scojte  and  Prlnciiyles 

thougli  of  tliis  we  are  not  convinced ;  Lut  wliy  is  it  neces- 
sary to  announce  the  fact  ?  Any  one  who  traces  his  ances- 
try back  far  enough,  will  probably  discover  relationships  of 
which  he  will  not  be  particularly  proud  —  but  he  does  not 
therefore  find  it  necessary  to  bruit  the  matter  abroad,  so  to 
speak, —  to  publish  it  upon  the  housetops.  Truth  is  a 
good  thing,  indeed,  but  there  are  times  when  silence  is 
golden  and  speech  is  leaden  — when  discretion  in  speech  is 
the  better  part  of  intellectual  valor.  What  moral  or  relig- 
ious end  can  possibly  be  attained  by  the  public  proclama- 
tion of  a  belief  in  Evolution  ?  Such  are  the  comments,  no 
doubt,  of  some  of  the  self-constituted  critics  of  the  work 
of  this  Association.  Another  sort  of  criticism  of  certain 
phases  of  evolutionary  thought  is  often  heard  from  those 
who  are  quite  ready  to  declare  themselves  converts  to  the 
doctrine  in  its  purely  physical  and  biological  aspects :  Evo- 
lution is  only  a  method,  these  critics  declare ;  it  is  not  a 
philosophy,  it  is  not  a  religion ;  —  the  great  problems  of 
ethics,  of  metaphysics,  of  life,  what  have  these  to  do  with 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  the  origin  of  species  by  natural  se- 
lection, or  the  descent  of  man  from  lower  forms  of  life  ? 

It  should  be  sufficient,  perhaps,  to  remind  intelligent 
people  that  if  evolution  is  <•'  only  a  method,"  it  is,  so  far  as 
we  are  able  to  discover,  a  universul  method,  penetrating 
into  all  the  phenomenal  activities  of  nature  ;  explaining 
not  only  the  processes  whereby  suns  aud  workls  have  come 
into  being,  and  the  varied  and  bountiful  forms  of  life  have 
successively  appeared  lipon  the  earth,  but  also  how  the  sev- 
eral faculties  of  the  mind  have  grown  out  of  the  simplest 
form  of  conscious  a})prehension,  how  the  special  senses 
have  been  developed,  how  individuals  have  been  impelled 
to  combine,  forming  the  complex  organizations  into  which 
our  civilized  societies  are  divided,  how  governmental  forms 
have  evolved  and  the  institutions  of  ndigion  have  come  into 
being  —  how  religion  itself,  indeed,  an(l  that  sense  of  ob- 
ligation which  constitutes  the  foundation  of  man's  moral 
nature,  Iiave  arisen  by  processes  entirely  orderly  and  nat- 
ural, out  of  the  interaction  between  (lertain  ])riniitive 
instincts  and  tendencies  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  (Uivi- 
roning  conditions  under  which  they  have  found  exi)ression. 

If  we  are  right  in  assuming,  with  Spencer  :ni(l  iMske  and 
other  great  leaders  in  tliis  new  movement  of  thought, 
that  evolution  is  tlnis  practically  illimitable  in  its   range 


of  the  Eocdation  Ph'dosopJtij.  7 

throughout  the  xmiverse  of  physical  and  mental  phenomena, 
then  indeed  must  we  confess  that  it  is  not  merely  a  method 
whereby  the  myriad  forms  of  organic  life  have  come  into 
being  —  it  is  a  method  Avhich  searches  into  the  deeper 
prolilems  of  religion  and  philosoj^hy,  compelling  a  recon- 
sideration of  old  conclusions  —  a  reconstruction  of  many 
of  their  fundamental  conce])tions.  To  speak  of  "  the  phi- 
losophy of  Evolution/'  therefore,  is  not  without  warrant. 
We  may  well  term  it,  with  John  Fiske,  a  ^'cosmic  phi- 
losophy," since  it  is  thus  universal  in  its  scope  and  applica- 
tion ;  or  with  Mr.  Spencer,  a  "  synthetic  philosophy," 
since,  like  the  founder  of  Christianity,  it  comes  not  to 
destroy  but  to  fulfill,  discovering  the  measure  of  truth 
which  resides  in  each  antagonistic  system,  and  by  a  new 
and  deeper  synthesis  combining  them  into  a  harmonious 
and  perfect  whole. 

If  it  should  appear  to  some  superficial  thinkers  that  the 
advocates  of  this  philosoi»liy  unnecessarily  antagonize  the 
creeds  and  methods  of  the  prevalent  religious  faith, — ■ 
ideas  and  conceptions  that  by  many  are  deemed  sacred, — 
the  reply  must  be  that  the  truth  is  more  sacred  than  any 
existing  institution,  or  theological  or  cosmological  concep- 
tion, however  venerable.  In  the  language  of  Emerson, 
"  Nothing  at  last  is  sacred  but  the  integrity  of  3-our  own 
mind."  There  is  an  ethics  of  the  intellect  which  imjioses 
u))on  every  reverent  thinker  the  obligation  to  follow  abso- 
lutely the  dictates  of  his  enliglitened  reason,  and  fi-inkly 
to  confess  his  innermost  convictions.  In  the  noble  passage 
Avith  which  Mr.  8i)encer  concludes  the  first  part  of  his 
"  First  Principles  of  Pliiloso}»hy,"  he  says  : 

"Whoever  hesitates  to  utter  tliat  which  he  thinks  the 
highest  truth,  lest  it  should  be  too  much  in.  advance  of  the 
time,  may  reassure  himself  by  looking  at  his  acts  from  an 
impersonal  point  of  view.  Let  him  duly  recognize  the 
fact  that  opinion  is  the  agency  through  Avhich  character 
adapts  external  arrangements  to  itself  —  that  his  opinion 
rightly  forms  a  ])art  of  this  agency  —  is  a  unit  of  force, 
constituting,  witli  other  such  units,  the  general  poAver 
Avhich  works  out  social  changes  ;  and  lie  Avill  perceive  that 
he  may  pro]!er]y  give  utterance  to  his  innermost  convic- 
tion :  leaving  it  to  produce  Avhat  effect  it  may.  .  .  .  He 
must  remember  that,  Avhile  he  is  a  descendant  of  the  past, 
he  is  a  parent  of  the  future ;  and  that  his  thoughts  are  as 


8  The  Scojje  and  Princijjles 

children  born  to  liim,  which  he  may  not  carelessly  let  die. 
He,  like  every  other  man,  may  properly  consider  himself 
as  one  of  the  myriad  agencies  through  whom  works  the 
Unknown  Canse  ;  and  when  the  Unknown  Canse  prodnces 
in  him  a  certain  belief,  he  is  thereby  authorized  to  profess 
and  act  ont  that  belief.  For,  to  render  in  their  highest 
sense  the  words  of  the  poet,  — 

'  .  .  .  Nature  is  made  better  by  no  mean, 
But  Nature  makes  that  mean  ;  over  that  art 
Which  you  say  adds  to  Nature,  is  an  art 
That  Nature  makes.' 

"Not  as  adventitious,  therefore,  will  the  wise  man  re- 
gard the  faith  that  is  in  him.  The  highest  truth  he  sees  he 
will  fearlessly  utter ;  knowing  that,  let  what  may  come  of 
it,  he  is  thus  playing  his  right  part  in  the  world;  —  know- 
ing that  if  he  can  cifect  the  change  he  aims  at  —  well :  if 
not, —  well  also,  though  not  so  well."  * 

This  passage  is  noteworthy  not  only  for  the  nobility  of 
its  thought  and   the  transparent  clearness  of   its  diction, 
but  also  because  it  suggests  some  of  the  foremost  questions 
involved  in  the  discussion  of  the  evolution  philosophy.    In 
naming  the  Power  which  works  in  the  thoughts  of  men  as 
well  as  in  the  processes  of  external  Nature,  "the  Unknown 
Cause,"  Mr.  Spencer  brings  ns  face  to  face  with  the  funda- 
mental  problem  of   the  nature   of   our   knowledge  —  and 
with  that  mental  attitude  which  is  popularly  termed  Agnos- 
ticism, the  hete-noire  of  this  i)hiloso])liy  in  the  minds  of  its 
orthodox  critics,  as  well  as  those  of  the  extreme  radical  or 
materialistic  school  of  thought.     In  the  misconcejjtion  and 
denunciation  of  the  doctrine  of   the  relativity  of  knowl- 
edge which  constitutes  the  phil()SO])hical  breastwork  of  tlie 
agnostic's  position,  extremes  meet,  and  the  Catholic  Mal- 
loek,  the  anti-Christian  realist  Francis  Ellingwood  Abbot, 
and   the  nmterialist,  ably  Tepresented  last  season  on  this 
l)latform  by  Mr.  Starr  H.  Nichols,t  clasp  hands,  and  mingle 
tlieir  otherwise  inharmonious  voices.     Leaving  tlie  fuller 
explanation   and  illu.stration  of   the  doctrine  of   the  rela- 
tivity of  knowledge  to  my  able  successor  in  this  course, 
I  shall  eiKh-avor  hereafter  briefly  to  define  phih)SO])hi('al 
agnosticism;  to  show  tliat  its  attitiuh;  is  neither  idealistic, 
strictly  speaking,  nor  irreligious  ;  that  it  is  not  inconsistent 

•  First  I'rinciples,  p.  12.'J. 

tThe  Philosoi>hy  of  KvDlutiim.  Kvolutinn  Kssays,  pp.  .T-j;^-.^! . 


of  tlie  Evolution  Philosoplnj.  9 

with  a  realistic  conception  of  the  external  world,  nor  with 
the  obligation  to  use  and  trust  those  high  faculties  of 
intellect  and  reason  Avhieh  constitute  the  distinguishing 
features  of  the  mind  of  man  —  tliat  in  every  de})artment 
of  scientific,  historical-and  true  philosophic  investigation, 
indeed,  it  is  consistent  and  coincident  with  the  meta-gnos- 
ticdsm  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Skilton.  *  In  si:>eaking  of  indi- 
vidual opinion  as  a  unit  of  that  "general  power  which 
works  out  social  changes,"  JNlr.  Spencer  places  uppermost 
as  the  goal  of  intelligent  tliought  and  action,  a  practical 
rather  than  a  merely  speculative  purpose — therel)y  turn- 
ing our  attention  to  the  field  of  practical  ethics  which  is 
involved  in  the  discussion  of  sociological  evolution.  To  a 
further  consideration  of  the  relations  of  the  evolution 
philosophy  to  this  topic,  foremost  at  the  present  day  in  the 
arena  of  discussion  and  of  i)ractical  statesmanship,  I  shall 
ask  your  thoughtful  attention  during  the  concluding  por- 
tion of  my  paper. 

What,  then,  let  us  ask  at  the  outset,  is  an  Agnostic  ? 
What  is  philosophical  agnosticism  ?  The  word,  as  is  well- 
known,  was  first  introduced  into  English  usage  by  Prof. 
Huxley,  and  was  derived  by  him  from  Paul's  designation 
of  the  "Agnostic"  or  unknown  God,  whose  altar  was 
established  by  the  pious  Athenians.  As  Prof.  Huxley 
himself  describes  its  meaning  and  origin,  it  arose  from  a 
conviction  produced  by  his  early  reading  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton's  essay  "On  the  Thilosophy  of  the  Uncondi- 
tioned," strengthened  by  subsequent  reflection  and  the 
study  of  Hume  and  Kant.  Of  the  essay  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  Prof.  Huxley  declares  :  "  It  stamped  upon  my 
mind  the  strong  conviction  that,  on  even  the  most  solemn 
and  important  of  questions,  men  are  apt  to  take  cunning 
phrases  for  answers ;  and  that  the  limitation  of  our  facul- 
ties, in  a  great  number  of  cases,  renders  real  answers  to 
those  questions  not  merely  actually  impossible,  but  theo- 
retically inconceivable."  f  As  regards  the  validity  of  spec- 
ulative conclusions,  he  was  therefore  forced  to  adopt  the 
conviction  thus  stated  by  Kant  in  his  "Critique  of  Pure 
Reason":  "The  greatest  and  perhajjs  the  sole  use  of  all 
philoso})hy  of  pure  reason  is,  after  all,  merely  negative, 
since  it  serves  not  as  an  orginuui  for  tlie  enlargement  [of 

*The  Evohitioii  of  Society,  Evolution  ICssays,  pi).  Tl'y-'Z'l' . 
t  Christianity  anil  Agnosticism,  lluxlcy-Wace  Controversy. 


10  The  Scope  and  Frinciples 

knowledge,]  but   as  a  disfipline  for  its   delimitation,  and 
instead  of  discovering  truth,  lias  only  the  modest  merit  of 
preventing  error."     In  other  words,  the  only  practical  re- 
sult of  metaphysical  studies  is  to  convince  the  unbiased 
student  that  the  human   mind   is    incapable  of   grasping 
ontological  facts.     In  the  clearer  language  of  Mr.  Spencer, 
''  all  our  knowledge  is  relative."     We  can  know  nothing  of 
the  external  universe— nothing  even  of  the  nature  of  our 
own   bodies  and  of    our  own  minds  —  save    as    they   are 
directly  related  to  our  knowing  faculties.     Involved  in  this 
phenomenal  knowledge,  however,  and  accompanying  it  at 
every  step,  we  have  the  inexpugnable   testimony  of   our 
reason  and    consciousness  that  behind  the  world  of   phe- 
nomena there  exists  an  Iniiuite  and  Eternal  Energy  which 
is  the  source  and  efl&cient  cause  of   all  phenomena,  both 
physical  and  mental.     As  thus  stated,  the  doctrine  seems 
almost  a  truism.     How,  indeed,  can  it  be  possible  that  man 
should  know  anything  which  is  wholly  out  of   relation  to 
his  intellectual  faculties  ?     Nay,  of  what  use  or  interest  to 
him  would  such  knowledge  be  if  it  were  possible  to  attain 
it.^     And  on  the  other  liand,  how  is  it  possible  f or  _  him 
to  view  the  orderly  procession  of  phenomena  —  any  single 
phenomenon,  indeed  —  without  conceiving  it  as  a  manifes- 
tation of  immanent  causal  energy  ?     A  sense  of   depend- 
ence   upon   a  Power   which   is    greater   than    our    human 
capacity  of  comprehension  —  an  apprehension  of  our  own 
finitude  and  of   that  of   the  phenomenal  universe,  in  the 
presence  of  this  Power— is  indeed  as  necessary  to  supply 
the  demands  of  our  intellectual  as  of   our  emotional  and 
religi(jus  nature.     If   we  think   at   all,  we   cannot   escape 
from  the  implication  involved  in  this  belief.     It  rebukes 
our  intellectual  conceits,  and  touches  with  an  infinite  awe 
and  reverence  every  discovered  beauty,  every  hidden  mys- 
tery, the  existence  of  which  is  forced  upon  us  by  the  con- 
templation of   the  world  nf  pliciioiiicna.     In  the  very  fact 
that  the  dei)ths  of  this  mystery  can   never  be  sounded  by 
the  finite  plummets  of  our  thought,  lies  its  capacity  to  for- 
ever satisfy  the  artistic,  the  poetic,  the  religious  demands 
of  our  nature.     '<Who  by  searching  can  find   out    God? 
Who   can    know  the  Almighty  to   ])erfection  ? "     Greater 
than  any  object  of  our  detinit(^  knowledge  is  the  human 
mind  itself.     The  noblest  product  of  evolution,  it  bows  be- 
fore no  mere  conception  of  tlic  phenomenal  universe,  even 


of  the  Evolution  Philosopky.  11 

though  infinitel}'  extended  in  time  and  space.  It  yiekls 
supreme  allegiance,  reverence  and  worship  only  to  tliat 
efficient  Cause  which  underlies  the  world  of  phenomena, 
both  mental  and  material,  which  dwells  alike  in  star  and 
flower,  in  the  wonders  of  the  physical  organism,  in  the 
heights  of  thought  and  in  the  inhnite  depth  of  love,  toi;ch- 
imr  all  that  we  see  and  all  that  we  know  with  a  tender 
halo  of  unsearchable  mystery.  Like  the  purple  liaze  in 
which  twilight  robes  the  distant  mountain-summits,  fading 
away  into  the  infinite  depths  of  the  stellar  spaces,  and 
softening  the  harsh  outlines  of  rock  and  forest  into  lines 
of  perfect  beauty, —  so  the  apprehension  of  the  Unknowable 
Cause  of  phenomena  mellows  the  sharp  boundaries  and 
limitations  of  the  known,  softens  the  crude  details  of  our 
human  picture,  and  gives  it  a  symmetry  and  unity  which 
satisfy  the  aesthetic  longing,  while  it  also  meets  the  exi- 
gent demands  of  intellect  and  reason. 

"  The  conviction  that  human  intelligence  is  incapable  of 
absolute  knowledge,"  says  Mr.  Spencer,  "is  one  that  has 
slowly  been  gaining  ground  as  civilization  has  advanced. 
Each  new  ontological  theory,  from  time  to  time  propounded 
in  lieu  of  other  ones  shown  to  be  untenable,  has.  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  new  criticism  leading  to  a  new  scepticism."  * 
Whether  we  investigate  the  product  of  thought  or  the  pro- 
cess of  thought,  this  conviction  is  forced  anew  upon  our 
minds.  Analyzing  the  nature  of  the  simplest  product  of 
our  knowledge,  we  find  that  we  know  it  only  by  a  process 
of  classification  with  something  already  known.  The 
botanist  who  discovers  a  new  flower  studies  its  structure, 
investigates  its  method  of  growth,  and  finally  assigns  it  to 
its  proper  order  and  class  with  others  which  he  knows,  and 
thus  determines  its  true  character.  But  the  Infinite  and 
Absolute,  it  is  evident,  cannot  be  thus  classified.  There 
can  be  but  one  Infinite ;  our  knowledge  of  its  essential 
nature  and  attributes  must  be  forever  negative.  The  nat- 
ure of  life  and  of  knowledge  alike  testify  to  the  fact  that 
Ave  can  know  only  relations.  '-Life  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions, inclusive  of  intelligence  in  its  highest  forms,  con- 
sists in  the  continuous  adjustment  of  inner  relations  to 
outer  relations." t  "Every  act  of  knowing  is  the  forma- 
tion of  a  relation  in  consciousness  iiarallel  to  a  relation  in 
the  environment."     Beneath  this  vital  tissue  of   sequences 

•First  I'rinciples.  -tlliid. 


12  The  Scope  and  Pr'mc'qiles 

and  coexistences  we  cannot  penetrate.  The  very  concep- 
tion of  relativity,  however,  carries  with  it  the  knowledge 
of  the  Absolute  as  existing,  and  as  involved  in  all  phenom- 
enal processes.  As  we  cannot  have  a  shadow  without 
litrht,  so  we  cannot  have  the  relative  without  the  Absolute : 
the  existence  of  the  one  is  proof  positive  of  the  existence 
of  the  other.  And  since  the  relations  which  we  know  are 
constant,  since  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  is  universally 
operative  throughout  the  world  of  phenomena,  our  knowl- 
edge, though  relational,  is  real — as  real  to  us  as  Avould  be 
our  knowledge  of  the  thing  in  itself,  were  such  knowledge 
attainable.  In  knowing  phenomena  we  do  know  the  nou- 
menon  as  it  is  related  to  us. 

The  materialistic  critic  of  the  evolution-philosophy 
comes  to  us,  indeed,  Avith  the  assumption  that  the  universe 
is  just  Avhat  we  see  it  to  be,  and  nothing  else.  As  it  is  in 
sense-jierception,  so  it  is  in  its  essential  nature.  Mind 
itself  is  material.  "  The  brain  secretes  thought  as  the 
liver  secretes  bile"  —  thought  itself  is  a  material  product. 
We  must  assume  something,  he  says:  why  not  assume  that 
the  testimony  of  our  senses  is  final  and  conclusive  ?  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  this  position  of  the  materialist  is 
reached  not  by  a  [)rocess  of  thought,  but  by  the  negation 
of  though^,  lie  is  either  incapable  of  duly  considering 
the  prcjbh'ms  involved  in  this  discussion,  or  else  he  delib- 
erately refuses  to  consider  them,  denouncing  them  as  futile 
and  unproiitabh'  speculations.  The  evolutionist,  however, 
assumes  nothing,  except  the  actual  facts  of  exi)erience  ;  his 
ultimate  criterion  of  truth  is  the  inability  to  conceive  the 
oj)posite  of  the  proposition  under  discussion.  The  "fun- 
damental assumption"  of  the  materialist  is  neither  logical 
nor  .scieiitiHc  —  it  is  essentially  a  metajihysical  assumption, 
and  illustrates  a  very  crude  and  primitive  sent  of  meta- 
pliysics  at  that.  Tlie  evolutionist  indulges  in  no  assump- 
tions, falls  ])ack  on  no  "first  ])rin('iples,"  or  "axiomatic 
trutijs,"  the  origin  and  history  of  which  he  cannot  trace 
in  the  experience;  of  the  race.  Every  conscious  ex})erience 
constitutes  a  imit  of  knowledge,  and  science  is  simply  the 
orderly  cliussilication  and  interpretation  of  such  experi- 
ences, Tp  science,  therciore,  the  evolutionist  appeals  — 
not  to  UM'taphysies — and  by  science  is  the  i)osition  of  the 
mati'riali.st  un(h'rmine<l  and  overthrown. 

(Jonsich-r.  for  example,  what  science  teaches  us  of  the 


of  the  Evolution  Philosophy.  13 

nature  of  sense-perception.  Tluit  phenomenon  Avliicli  our 
minds  recognize  as  sound,  science  declares  to  be  objectively 
cert:.iu  vibrations  or  wavt's  produced  in  the  atmospheric 
medium.  IJrtween  the  two  orders  of  phenomena,  the  ex- 
ternal fact  and  the  subjective  percejjtion  of  it,  there  is  no 
relation  of  identity  —  only  one  of  concomitance.  One  is 
subjective,  Avholly, —  the  other  objective;  one  is  mental, 
the  other  material.  Without  an  ear,  a  recipient  brain  and 
a  conscious  mind,  the  atmospheric  vibration  might  go  on 
forever,  and  thei'e  would  be  no  phenomena  of  sound.  The 
same  principle  holds  good  also  in  sight.  That  which  to 
our  minds  appears  as  color,  exteriially  is  the  inconceiv- 
ably rapid  vibration  of  the  intangible  ether  which  sur- 
rounds and  penetrates  the  atmospheric  envelope  of  the 
globe.  Without  the  eye,  the  recipient  brain,  and  the  subtle 
synthesis  of  thought,  the  ])henomenon  of  vision  were 
impossible.*  And  so  of  the  other  special  senses.  But  what 
Ave  call  matter  is  inseparable  from  these  sense-perceptions, 
—  it  is  made  up  of  them.  Take  away  what  we.  know  as 
form  and  weight  and  color  and  extension,  and  nothing 
nuiterial  remains.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  the 
Unknown  Keality  which  caused  in  us  these  sensations  has 
ceased  to  exist.  As  firmly  as  we  believe  in  our  own  exist- 
ence, do  we  believe  in  that  of  a  Reality  external  to  our- 
selves, and  by  precisely  the  same  warrant — the  unthink- 
ableness  of  the  contrary  proposition.  To  beings  constituted 
differently  from  ourselves,  however,  this  reality  might  i)re- 
sent  an  appearance  totally  distinct  from  that  which  we 
know  as  matter.  To  the  simplest  form  of  organism,  for 
example,  whose  consciousness  is  limited  to  a  single  undif- 
ferentiated mode  of  sense  percei>tion,  those  affections  of 
matter  which  Ave  knoAV  as  color,  taste,  odor,  sound,  exten- 
sion, Avould  be  Avholly  incomprehensible.  The  limitati(.n 
of  our  OAvn  senses,  both  in  nund)er  and  in  range,  is  entirely 
arbitrary. t   It  is  quite  conceivable  that  there  may  be  beings 


•Maxwell's  new  inafrnetic  theory  of  light  einpliasizes  still  more  strongly  the 
jirinciple  here  hiid  down. 

tThe  itresident  of  the  British  Association,  Professor  Flower,  indorses  Sir 
.If)hn  r.utiliock's  idea  that  there  may  he  "  tilty  other  s^enses  as  dillVrent  Ironi 
ours  as  si>i\ihI  is  Ironi  sitrht  ;  and  even  within  the  lidHiularies  ol  our  own 
senses  there  may  he  endless  f-onnils  whirh  we  cannot  hear,  and  <'iili>rs  as  dif- 
ferent as  red  from  green  ol  wliieh  we  liave  no  eoneejition.  'fhese  and  a  tlion- 
sand  other  (juestions  remain  lor  solution.  The  familntr  world  which  surrounds 
ns  mav  lie  a  totally  dillerent  pl-.u-e  to  other  animals.  To  them  it  may  he 
full  of"  mnsic  whieli  we  cannot  hear,  of  color  which  we  caunot  see,  of  sensa- 
tions which  we  cannot  couceive." 


14  Tlie  Scope  and  Pruiriples 

on  some  other  planet,  like  the  resident  of  Saturn  imagined 
in  the  satire  of  Voltaire,  with  seventy  senses  instead  of 
live  —  to  whom  the  universe  would  present  an  appearance 
quite  unfamiliar  and  incomprehensible  to  our  understand- 
ing. To  the  old  and  ingenious  play  upon  words  involved 
in  the  familiar  and  brief  philosophical  catechism  :  "  What 
is  Matter?  Never  mind.  What  is  Mind?  Ko  matter. 
What  is  the  nature  of  the  soul  ?  It  is  perfectly  imma- 
terial,"—  science  and  evolution,  therefore,  enter  an  em- 
phatic protest.  Matter,  it  declares,  is  the  Unknowable 
Keality  as  reflected  in  mind  through  the  mediation  of  the 
senses.  Mind  is  that  Keality  as  it  appears  directly  in  the 
operations  of  consciousness.  It  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  insep- 
arable from  material  conditions  ;  but  it  is  a  false  logic  which 
therefore  infers  that  it  is  itself  material.  You  can  neither 
see,  feel,  smell,  taste,  weigh,  measure,  nor  chemically  de- 
compose a  thought.  It  responds  to  no  material  tests.  Yet 
in  it  lies  a  power  greater  than  that  of  the  Archimedean 
lever  —  a  power  sufficient  to  move  the  world.  Of  a  soul 
distinct  from  mind  and  form,  science  knows  absolutely 
nothing;  but  since  it  also  knows  nothing  of  the  nature  of 
the  Absolute  Reality  of  which  mind  and  form  are  manifes- 
tations, no  divine  possibility  is  slain  by  this  admission. 
Materialism  and  Idealism  both  err  in  assuming  that  knowl- 
edge is  absolute  instead  of  relative.  P>oth  declare  that  the 
universe  is  just  what  it  appears  to  be  to  our  senses  —  re- 
fusing, like  the  Electoral  Commission,  to  "  go  behind  the 
returns  "  and  investigate  the  actual  character  of  the  suf- 
frage. Materialism  assumes  that  matter  is  the  mould  of 
consciousness ;  Idealism,  that  consciousness  is  the  mould 
of  matter.  The  truth  lies  between  the  two  extremes,  in- 
cluding what  is  true  in  both. 

The  error  of  Materialism  is  cruder  and  more  easily 
ivl  lit  cd  than  that  ol'  Idcalisui;  in  view  of  the  testimony  of 
scien(;e  as  to  the  nature  of  our  sens(^-perception,  it  has  not 
a  foot  to  stand  upon.  In  declai'iug  that  the  Reality  which 
is  (^xtcMMial  to  our  consciousness  is  identical  and  cotermi- 
nous witli  tJiat  whicli  we  know  as  matter,  it  bases  its  whole 
jiliilosojiliy  on  an  unverilied  and  unveriiiable  assumption 
whi(^h  is  contradictcMl  by  the  entii'c  testimony  of  S(nence. 
R)Ut  in  ass\iming  tliat  there  is  no  Absolute  Jveality  external 
to  consciousness,  Idealism  is  e(]ually  meta,j)liysical  and  un- 
.scientitic.     The  (piestion  in  I'eality  is  sinijily  one  of  physi- 


of  the  Evolution  Fldlosopliy.  15 

ology  —  of  a  scientific  understanding  of  the  nature  of  sense- 
perception  ;  there  is  nothing  speculative  or  metaphysical 
about  it,  whatsoever. 

The  Materialist's  position  in  philosophy  reminds  one  of 
certain  crude  attempts  at  art,  Avhich,  ignoring  all  sense  of 
perspective,  and  disregarding  the  beautiful  blending  of 
lights  and  shadows  as  we  see  them  in  the  natural  land- 
scape, illustrates  a  sort  of  sharply-defined  wooden  realism, 
which  is  as  distressing  to  the  cultivated  eye  as  it  is  thor- 
oughly materialistic  in  its  conception  and  execution. 

The  Idealist's  position,  on  the  contrary,  reminds  one  of 
an  artist  who  should  eschew  the  use  of  vulgar  material 
paint,  and  attempt  to  dip  his  pencil  in  the  prismatic  hues 
of  the  rainbow.  Of  the  two,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
materialistic  painter  would  produce  something,  though  it 
would  not  resemble  anything  that  we  ever  see  in  ISTature  ; 
while  the  idealist  would  produce  nothing,  external  to  his 
own  imagination.* 

In  the  language  of  Professor  Fiske  : 

"Our  conclusion  is  simply  this,  that  no  theory  of  phe- 
nomena, external  or  internal,  can  be  framed  without  postu- 
lating an  Absolute  Existence  of  which  phenomena  are  the 
manifestations.  And  now  let  us  note  carefully  what 
follows.  We  cannot  identify  this  Absolute  Existence  with 
Mind,  since  what  we  know  as  JNIind  is  a  series  of  phenom- 
enal manifestations  :  it  was  the  irrefragable  part  of  Hume's 
argument  that,  in  the  eye  of  science  as  in  the  eye  of  com- 
mon sense,  Mind  means  not  the  occult  reality  but  the  grouj) 
of  phenomena  which  we  know  as  thoughts  and  feelings. 
Nor  can  we  identify  this  Absolute  Existence  with  JNIatter, 
since  what  we  know  as  Matter  is  a  series  of  phenomenal 
manifestations ;  it  was  the  irrefragable  part  of  Berkeley's 
argument  that,  in  the  eye  of  science  as  in  the  eye  of  com- 
mon sense,  Mattt'r  means  not  the  occult  realit}-  but  the 
group  of  sensations  which  we  know  as  extension,  resist- 
ance, color,  etc.  Absolute  Existence,  therefore,  —  the 
Reality  which  persists  independently  of  us,  and  of  which 
IVrind  and  ^Matter  are  ]ihenonuMial  numifestations, —  cannot 
be  identified  either  with  ^Miudorwith  IMatter.  Thus  is  ^la- 
terialism  included  in  the  same  condemnation  with  Idealism. ''t 


*That  which  the  Idealist  would  produce  in  his  iinaffimitiou,  however,  inijiht 
be  infinitely  finer  than  the  crude  ol)jectivc  iiroduction  of  the  Materialist. 

tCosniic  I'liilosojihy,  Vol.  I.  The  Evolutionist  is  jnstitied  in  atlirniinjr  "  the 
eternity  and  lunreatability  of  matter."   which   is  the  (latum   nn  wliicli  the 


IG  The  Scojye  and  Principles 

This,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  evolution  philosophy, 
differing  as  widely  from  Materialism  on  the  one  hand  as  it 
does  from  Idealism  on  the  other:  a  conclusion,  moreover, 
to  which  we  are  compelled  Ly  an  irresistible  logic  from  no 
basis  of  metaphysical  assumption,  but  from  data  furnished 
by  science  itself,  reinforced  by  that  ultimate  criterion  of 
truth  which  bases  the  postulates  of  our  reasoning  upon  the 
inconceivability  of  their  opposites.  The  ultimate  data 
botli  for  the  scientific  conclusions  upon  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  Unknowable  is  based,  and  fur  the  laws  of  thought 
under  the  operation  of  which  it  is  logically  established,  are 
given  in  experience,  which  is  the  final  court  to  which  the 
evolutionist  appeals. 

Philosophical  agnosticism,  it  would  appear,  therefore,  is 
not  identical  with  materialism  ;  it  is  not  a  cowardly  i)liiloso- 
phy  Avhich  refuses  to  think ;  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  confound- 
ed Avith  that  crude  liberalism  which  dogmatically  denies  God 
and  immortality.  It  is  antagonistic  neither  to  religion  nor 
to  reason ;  it  is  antagonistic  only  to  those  unvei'iiiable 
assumptions  dogmatically  asserted  as  assured  truths,  which 
transform  religion  into  superstition,  and  philosophic  reason- 
ing into  idle  dreaming  and  unfruitful  sjieculation.  The 
evolution  ])hiloso])hy  affirms  the  duty  of  thinking  out  all 
intellectual  problems  to  their  idtimate  conclusions,  and 
asserts  the  competence  of  reason  to  deal  with  the  data 
given  in  experience,  throughout  the  entire  phenomenal 
universe  of  matter  and  of  mind.  The  universe  of  matter 
is  infinitely  knowable ;  the  realm  of  mind  is  infinitely 
knowable.  And  in  knowing  mind  and  matter  we  know 
tlie  Infinite  and  Eternal  Energy  on  which  they  depend,  in 
all  its  ])0ssible  relations  to  our  own  consciousness.  It  is 
tlic  dnty  of  man  to  rise  and  trust  his  intellectual  faculti(>s 
in  the  investigation  of  all  mattei's  which  come  within  the 
scope  of  his  intellect  and  understanding.  All  knowledge 
which  can  ])Ossibly  come  within  the  range  of  onr  faculties 
is  open  to  us  ;  hence  then'  is  no  real  loss  or  j)rivati()n  in 
the  conce])tion  that  the  mind  cannot  ])enetrate  behind  the 
veil  oi'  ])h('noiiiciia.      'I'hc  supci-ticial  appcaianccs  of  things, 

|iliysi<'iil  ^ciciiccH  rcHt, —  incaiiinK  tlicrcliy  tluit  "  tlio  lleality  wliidi  ])frsists 
iii(lc|)<-ii(li-iitly  <>t  ilH  "  is  constant  in  its  rcliitioiis,  and  woulil  always  manifest 
itscll  i/.s  ;;if///rr  to  a  hi'int:  cir  l)cint:;s  possessed  r)l'  a  eoiisciolisness  like  luirs. 
The  idealistie  eonceidion  tliat  material  olijeets  are  creations  of  the  in<livi(liial 
eonseidUHnesH,  and  liavt^  no  snlistiatnm  of  real  existence  wliieh  endures  vvlien 
that  conseiniisnoHS  is  no  lontrer  a<tive,  is  of  course  ini'oTisistent  with  all  forms 
of  fcientillc  reuliMin,  and  is  tlienfore  rejected  liy  tluM-volutionisi. 


of  the  Evolution  FlillosopJiy.  17 

when  tested  by  scientific  methods,  are  found  to  Ite  almost 
always  illusory  and  misleading.  The  perception  of  this 
fact  imposes  upon  us  the  sacred  obligation  to  penetrate 
beneath  the  surface  —  to  discover  the  causes  and  the  real 
relations  of  plienomena,  and  to  apply  the  knowledge  thus 
gained  to  the  advancement  and  betterment  of  human  life. 

No  realm  of  thought  is  thus  too  sacred  for  the  human 
mind  to  penetrate.  Into  the  nature,  origin  and  historical 
evolution  of  religion,  into  the  character  and  history  of 
man's  moral  sense,  into  the  realms  of  psychology  and  of 
the  physical  sciences,  the  reason  must  search  for  material 
wherewith  to  broaden  and  deejjen  the  life  of  man,  and 
enlarge  the  area  of  human  happiness.  Nor  is  man  even 
forbidden  to  enter  into  the  lofty  regions  of  speculative 
thought :  only  he  is  bidden  to  remember  that,  in  exercising 
his  reason  upon  ontological  problems,  he  can  do  no  more 
than  to  create  symbols  and  imaginative  pictures  of  that 
which  is,  from  the  nature  of  things,  in  its  absolute  essence 
beyond  our  human  ken.  Something  of  gain  in  the  way  of 
mental  disci[)line  there  is,  doubtless,  in  climbing  occasion- 
ally into  the  thin  air  of  these  iipper  regions  of  speculative 
research,  if  by  breathing  it  we  do  not  become  intoxicated 
with  the  conceit  that  we  are  thereby  acquainting  ourselves 
with  the  actual  verities  of  Absolute  and  Unconditioned 
Being.  Compared  with  the  results  of  research  into  the 
relations  of  phenomena,  conducted  according  to  the  scien- 
tific method,  metaphysical  speculation "  has  proved  unpro- 
ductive, unprogressive,  and  sterile  of  practical  benefits  to 
man.  There  is  no  agreement  as  to  results  among  specula- 
tive thinkers.  The  schools  of  metaphysics  are  as  numer- 
ous as  theological  sects,  and  for  a  similar  reason :  there  is 
no  criterion  of  truth  which  all  agree  to  accept. 

It  is  evident  that  the  content  and  metliods  of  religion  as 
reconstructed  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  science 
and  the  philosophy  of  evolution,  will  differ  essentially 
from  dhose  which  have  governed  and  still  largely  goxcrn 
thje  work  of  the  Christian  church.  Yet  in  so  differing  they 
will,  if  we  mistake  not,  come  nearer  to  the  essential 
thought  of  the  founder  of  Christianity.  Instead  of  urg- 
ing man  to  an  egoistic  strife  after  i)ersonal  salvation,  relig- 
ion thus  reconstructed  will  bid  him  so  enlarge  and  culti- 
vate his  own  nature  that  he  can  render  the  worthiest  and 
most  profitable  service  to  his  fellow-men.    Instead  of  basing 


18  The  Scojje  and  Priiivlples 

salvation  on  dogiuatic  bt4ief,  it  will  make  it  a  process 
of  moral  and  intellectual  growth  —  a  process  of  character- 
biiilding.  Instead  of  repressing  the  intellect,  disparaging- 
human  reason,  and  discouraging  free  thouglit,  it  will  hid 
man  remove  all  shackles  and  fetters  from  the  mind,  to 
think  deeply,  to  think  beyond  the  superficial  appearances 
of  things  —  to  breathe  the  keen  air  of  the  intellectual  life 
witli  perfect  freedom,  finding  therein  an  inspiration  to  the 
noblest  living  and  most  devoted  service.  Instead  of  urg- 
ing man  to  an  emotional  spasm  of  repentance  for  wrong- 
doing, it  will  bid  him  carefully  ponder  upon  the  results  of 
his  actions,  note  the  instant  effect  of  an  evil  deed  in  re- 
l)ressing  fulness  of  life  —  in  atrophying  the  character  of 
the  doer.  It  will  show  him  that  the  penalty  of  wrong- 
doing is  intrinsic  instead  of  extrinsic  —  that  heaven  and 
hell  are  conditions  of  the  mind  rather  than  definite  local- 
ities in  space. 

It  will  regard  religion  as  a  life  rather  tlian  a  ceremonial 
or  a  creed.  It  will  inculcate  justice  in  place  of  charity. 
Instead  of  accepting  poverty,  ignorance  and  wretchedness 
as  ordained  of  God, —  as  conditions  of  life  to  be  accepted 
with  resignation  and  mitigated  in  some  small  degree  by 
alms, —  it  will  endeavor  as  far  as  may  be  to  abolish  these 
conditions,  by  rendering  the  ])()()r  self-helpful,  by  educating 
the  ignorant,  and  by  removing  the  causes  of  disease  and  vice, 
thus  laying  the  ioundations  of  a  nobler  individual  manhood, 
which  is  the  only  sure  basis  for  a  regenerated  society. 

Jf  we  acce})t  Cicero's  derivation  of  the  word  '' religion," 
its  essential  meaning  is  faifJifiihirss,  fhoroi/fj/iness.  This 
principle  of  faithfulness  evolution  will  teach  man  to  carry 
into  every  dejjartnient  of  his  thought  and  labor.  The 
repl}'  of  the  servant-girl,  who  had  recently  united  with  the 
church,  to  the  question  of  her  mistress  as  to  what  evidence 
she  ha,d  of  her  conversion  :  "  I  know  I  have  got  religion, 
b('c;iMse,  now,  I  sweep  under  the  mats,"  is  suggestive  of 
that  conscientious  element  that  a  rational  religion  based 
upon  evolution  should  introduce  into  human  life.  INIatthew 
Aiiiohl's  definition  of  religion  is,  " Morality  touched  wiih 
(•mot  ion  "  :  a  moi-ality  lilted  out  of  mere  conventionalisms, 
a  morality  which  will  make  the  employer  recognize  the 
humanity  of  his  employee,  striving  to  render  him  a  just 
(•oiii])ensati{)ii  for  his  labor,  instead  of  treating  iiim  as  a 
nifrc  nioncv-niaking  niai-hiiic ;   which   will   make  the  work- 


nf  the  Evolution  riiUosophy.  19 

ingmun  anxious  that  liis  w(jrk  shall  be  well  dune,  rather 
than  make  hiui  strive  to  do  as  little  as  possible  for  his 
wages ;  which  shall  abolish  shoddy  clothes  and  Buddensiek 
buildings  ;  which  shall  do  aAvay  with  the  adulteration  of 
foods  and  drugs;  wliich  shall  create  a  divine  discontent 
with  the  ''  old  clothes  "  of  superstition  and  unreason  Avith 
Avhich  the  average  man  has  been  satisfied  to  array  his  intel- 
lectual and  religious  nature, — this,  if  not  answering  to  all 
that  we  mean  by  religion,  is  the  natural  and  consistent 
product  of  a  Eeligion  of  Life.  Go  into  yonder  church  — 
select  it  almost  at  random,  if  you  please,  from  any  quarter 
of  these  two  great  cities  —  these  Siamese  twins  whose 
common  artery  is  our  beautiful  Brooklyn  bridge  —  raid 
question  its  members  as  to  the  character  and  jueaning  of 
its  creed.  How  many  will  you  find  who  really  know  any- 
thing about  the  dogmas  which  they  are  supposed  to  profess 
and  believe  —  a  belief  in  which,  in  many  instances,  is 
deemed  essential  to  salvation  ?  How  many  of  our  city 
congregations,  of  whatever  sect,  would  sit  patiently  and 
hear  the  cold  logic  of  Calvinism  brought  home  to  their 
understandings  ?  Against  all  these  duplicities  of  thought 
and  life,  so  prevalent  in  this  transition  period,  the  phi- 
losophy of  evolution  enters  an  emphatic  protest,  seeing  that 
that  only  can  promote  growth  of  manly  and  womanly  char- 
acter which  is  vitally  and  really  appropriated  by  the  under- 
standing, and  allowed  its  legitimate  bearing  upon  the 
healthful  activities  of  life. 

Evolution  recognizes  the  continuity  of  thought  —  the 
solidarity  of  the  race  —  the  indebtedness  of  the  present  to 
the  past.  It  does  not  therefore  endeavor  to  establish  the 
new  truth  or  the  higher  social  ideal  by  violent  or  revolu- 
tionary methods.  It  seeks  for  the  soul  of  truth  in  things 
false  —  for  the  soul  of  good  in  things  evil  —  seeing  that 
evils  and  falsehoods  are  usually  goods  and  truths  out  of 
their  pro])er  relations.  Evil  is  mal-adjustment.  Its  cor- 
rection should  therefore  be  sought  by  readjustment,  rather 
than  by  destruction.  Evolution  would  build  on  the  exist- 
ing good,  rather  than  seek  to  lay  an  entirely  new  founda- 
tion. In  the  church.  Evolution  beholds  an  institution 
capable  of  bestowing  infinite  benefits  u})on  mankind;  yet 
as  organized  and  directed  in  the  past,  and  to  a  great  degree 
in  the  present,  it  lias  been  and  is  an  institution  of  doubtful 
utility.     It  has  repressed  the  individual  reason,  teaching 


20  TJie  Scope  and  Princljdes 

its  devotees  to  accept  as  authority  the  commandments  of 
])ope,  or  priest,  or  ecclesiastical  synod,  or  sacred  Ixjok.  It 
has  made  the  past  a  shackle  upon  the  present,  instead  of  a 
help  and  an  inspiration  to  a  larger  and  more  progressive 
life.  It  has  fostered  a  morbid  and  unhealthy  other-world- 
liness,  instead  of  seeking  to  better  the  condition  of  men 
here  and  now.  It  has  cultivated  a  low  pretense  of  famil- 
iarity with  the  person  and  attributes  of  the  Deity,  as  it  has 
assumed  to  define  them,  instead  of  bidding  the  soul  stand 
in  reverent  awe  in  the  presence  of  ''the  Infinite  and  Eter- 
nal Energy  whence  all  things  proceed."  All  these  things 
must  be  changed  if  the  church  would  remain  a  living  and 
l)rogressive  force  in  the  individual  life  and  in  the  ordering 
of  society. 

Insteatl  of  ceremonies  and  worship  based  upon  the  cur- 
rent anthropomor})hic  conceptions  of  the  deity,  there  will 
arise  "  observances  tending  to  keep  alive  a  consciousness  of 
the  true  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  the  Unknown  Clause, 
and  tending  to  giw  expression  to  the  sentiment  underlying 
that  consciousness."  As  to  the  character  and  attributes  of 
this  cause,  the  religious  teacher,  accei)ting  the  teachings  of 
Evolution,  will  not  arbitrarily  dogmatize.  In  the  language 
of  -Mr.  Spencer,  ''duty  requires  us  neither  to  assert  nor  to 
df'uy  that  it  has  personality,  but  to  submit  ourselves  with 
all  humility  to  tlm  established  limits  of  our  intelligence, 
in  the  conviction  that  the  choice  is  not  between  personality 
and  something  lower,  but  personality  and  something  higher, 
and  that  the  ultimate  reality  is  no  more  representative  In 
terms  of  liuman  consciousness  than  human  consciousnes.s  is 
rei)resentative  in  terms  of  a  i)lant's  functions."  The  fact 
that  we  stand  continually  in  the  presence  of  this  Ultimate 
Keality,  that  it  is  involved  in  every  i)luMiomenal  activity, 
wlietherof  mind  or  of  matter,  will  however,  be  kept  contin- 
ually l)efore  us.  The  use  of  the  term  "  Unknowable,"  as 
applied  to  this  Reality,  is  unfortunate  if  thereby  it  conveys 
tlie  idea  of  that  wliich  is  itractieally  or  actually  non-exist- 
ent,—  a  sui)erticial  interpretation  of  j\Ir.  Spencer's  doctrine 
with  which  we  are  frequently  assailed  by  ids  self-consti- 
tuted critics,  but  against  which  he  everywhere  carefully 
guards  liimself,  to  the  understanding  mind.  As  he  liimself 
declares:  "the  Ultimate  lieality  is  the  sole  existence;  all 
things  i)resent  to  consciousness  being  but  shows  of  it." 

In  the  words  of  an  able  popular  interpreter  of  the  evo- 


of  the  Evolution  Philosophy.  21 

lution  pliilosopliy  :  '*  The  agnostic  miuister  will  be  cliiefly 
a  moral  educator;  but  while  discussing  ethical  questions, 
which  must  of  themselves  exert  a  highly  elevating  influ- 
ence on  his  hearers,  he  Avill,  at  the  same  time,  have  ample 
opportunity  of  ministering  to  their  spiritual  needs  by 
appropriate  references  to  the  mysteries  of  cosmology,  either 
for  the  purpose  of  quickening  the  religious  emotions  and 
reinforcing  the  religious  consciousness,  or  with  a  view  to 
emphasizing  some  moral  lesson  which  he  may  wish  to  bring 
home  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  Thus  will  man's  con- 
duct be  influenced  in  the  right  direction.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  necessity  of  leading  a  moral  life  will  be  impressed 
upon  him  ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  will  be  led  to  reflect  upon 
that  inscrutable  power  whose  marvelous  energy  reveals 
itself  in  a  universe  of  wonders  —  a  jjower  which,  though 
indeflnable,  nay  inconceivable,  is  yet  as  real  in  its  existence 
as  it  is  unknowable  in  its  attributes."  *  Though  incompre- 
hensible, this  power  is  apprehensible  ;  though  unknowable 
in  its  essential  nature  and  attributes,  it  is  known  as  exist- 
ing, known  as  infinite  and  eternal,  known  as  the  Energy 
from  whence  all  things  proceed,  and  known  symbolically 
in  its  relations  to  man  and  to  the  phenomenal  universe. 
This  knowledge  satisfies  every  legitimate  hunger  of  the 
heart  and  mind.  The  attitude  of  the  mind,  therefore,  in 
contemplating  the  Infinite  Source  of  phenomena  should  be 
profoundly  reverential  and  Avorshipful ;  yet  its  truest  ser- 
vice will  be  found  in  no  ritual  or  stated  ceremonial  of  relig- 
ious worship,  but  in  the  active  and  intelligent  service  of 
man.  And  in  and  through  this  service,  making  life  itself 
seem  ever  grander,  more  precious,  more  beautiful,  there 
may  grow  up  in  tlie  mind  a  rational  ho^jc  for  personal  con- 
tinuance hereafter,  to  supplant  the  dogmatic  assurance  of 
the  old  theology,  in  which,  as  inculcated  by  the  Christian 
church,  thoughtful  minds  are  everywhere  coming  to  have  a 
less  and  less  confident  belief.  Evolution  teaches  the  essen- 
tial goodness  and  desirability  of  life;  and  on  this  founda- 
tion, if  on  any,  a  rational  hope  of  immortality  must  finally 
be  based.  In  this  direction  the  healthy  emotions  of  a 
rational  mind  are  entitled  to  have  free  play,  "  so  long  as 
they  do  not  trespass  upon  the  domains  of   the  intellect." 


♦The  Moral  and  Religious  Aspects  of  Herbert  Spencer's  Philosophy.  l>y 
Sylvan  Drey.  (London:  Williams  &  Norgate.  Boston:  James  II.  West, 
Publisher. ) 


22  The  Scope  and  Princijdes 

Whether  this  hope  in  intlividuals  be  vivid  or  dim  will  prob- 
ably be  largely  a  matter  of  temperament  and  predisposi- 
tion ;  bnt  it  will  doubtless  be  even  more  dependent  upon 
the  lively  comprehension  of  this  fundamental  doctrine  of 
biological  evolution  —  the  doctrine  of  the  essential  good- 
ness and  desirability  of  life  itself. 

From  what  has  heretofore  been  said,  it  is  evident  that 
Evolution,  whether  regarded  in  its  philosophical  or  in  its 
religious  aspects,  will  largely  interest  itself  in  the  practical 
problems  of  sociology  —  in  the  promotion  of  more  active 
and  more  widely  extended  human  synii:)athies,  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  poor,  the  vicious  and  the  down-trodden  —  thus 
extending  the  boundaries  and  the  satisfactions  of  life  not 
only  among  the  remote  and  barbarous  populations  of  the 
earth,  but  also,  primarily  and  correlatively,  in  each  individ- 
ual member  of  society.  The  word  ''sociology,"  as  ap]>lied 
to  the  science  of  society, —  or  its  French  equivalent, —  is,  I 
believe,  the  invention  of  Auguste  Comte  ;  but  the  credit  of 
working  out  this  science  of  society,  from  strictly  scientific 
data,  into  a  natural  and  comju-ehensive  system,  is  due,  more 
than  to  any  one  else,  to  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.  It  is  to  this 
study,  most  vital  in  interest  and  importance  to  every 
human  being,  that  this  series  of  lectures  will  direct  our 
attention. 

Whether  or  not  societ}'"  may  be  properly  termed  "an  or- 
ganism," in  the  strict  sense  in  whirh  the  individual  jirod- 
ucts  of  biological  evolution  are  thus  designated,  it  certainly 
bears  a  close  relation  to  them  in  many  important  respects, 
and  especially  as  to  the  character  of  its  process  of  growth. 
As  compared  with  the  development  of  inorganic  materials, 
which  grow  by  simple  accretion  or  addition  to  their  bulk, 
oi'ganic  substances  grow  by  intussusception  —  a  process  of 
waste  and  rejiair  which  reaches  every  particle  throughout 
tlicir  internal  structure.  In  this  respect  the  growth  of 
S(M'i(^ties  resembles  that  (jf  organic  substances  ;  it  is  a  sort 
of  vital  chemistry.  All  actual  and  ])ernianent  enlargement 
of  society  ]>roceeds  from  the  voluntary  co-operative  action 
dl'  individuals.  Aifection  ami  self-interest  are  the  attrac- 
tive forces  which  weld  society  together,  and  these  forces 
operate  directly  in  and  upon  individual  minds,  throughout 
the  social  structure,  Tlie  death  of  individuals,  and  the 
l)irtli  and  growtli  of  others  to  fill  tlieir  places  in  society, 
proceeds  in  like  manner  with  the  })rocesses  of  waste  and 


of  the  Evolution  Philosophij.  23 

repair  in  organic  structures.  There  is  such  au  intimate 
relationship  between  biological  and  social  studies,  that  some 
knowledge  of  the  laws  governing  biological  growth  is  neces- 
sary to  tit  one  for  forming  correct  judgments  on  socio- 
logical problems.  Biology  and  sociology  both  treat  of  the 
phenomena  of  life  —  both  involve  psychological  as  well  as 
merely  physical  conditions  —  the  one  leading  up  to  the 
other  by  an  entirely  orderly  and  natural  process  of  devel- 
opment. Evolution  shows  that  the  phenomenal  universe 
is  "all  of  one  piece,"  —  and  in  its  unity  of  method  sym- 
bolizes an  essential  unity  of  Being,  which,  if  we  may  not 
directly  affirm  it  as  a  demonstrated  fact,  at  least  constitutes 
tlie  most  satisfactory  and  rational  theory  of  the  nature  of 
things. 

In  this  higher  field  of  sociological  study,  how  many  and 
varied  are  the  problems  that  are  presented  for  our  investi-, 
gation  —  the  profoundest,  most  deeply  interesting  of  any 
which  the  human  mind  can  attempt  to  solve ;  for  they,  are 
problems  w'hicli  concern  the  origin,  the  essential  character, 
the  temporal  and  final  destiny  of  man  as  an  individual,  and 
of  Man  as  a  race.  Without  attempting  to  forestall  the 
solution  of  any  of  these  problems,  I  may,  in  conclusion, 
state  negatively  the  attitude  of  the  evolution  philosophy 
toward  sociological  studies. 

I.  Evolutionists  have  no  special  schemes  for  social 
reform  to  urge  i;pon  society.  They  regard  all  earnest 
efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  existing  social  evils  and 
inequalities,  with  sympathy  and  appreciation,  but  insist 
that  the  various  "  rapid  transit "  })lans  for  achieving  these 
much  desired  ends  shall  be  rigidly  examined  in  the  light  of 
social  science,  and  not  be  too  hastily  accepted  for  all  that 
their  originators  claim  them  to  be.  Evolutionists  realize 
that  "  Kature  does  not  advance  by  leaps,"  and  they  would 
carefully  note  the  trend  of  past  events,  and  study  the 
nature  of  individual  man  in  history  and  in  connection  with 
his  present  institutional  environment,  before  \irging  liim  to 
a  definite,  forward  step,  in  a  direction  contrary  to  that 
which  he  has  been  pursuing.  To  the  Evolutionist,  the 
a  j/n'orl  scheme  of  the  social  reformer  bears  a  certain  resem- 
blance to  the  philosophical  system  of  the  metaphysician, 
and,  like  the  latter,  he  thinks  the  former  sliould  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  test  of  the  experiential  method. 


24  Tlie  Scope  and  Principles 

II.  In  urging  the  study  of  Man  in  his  historical  relar 
tions,  however,  evohitionists  do  not  claim  that  society 
should  take  no  forward  step,  or  that  man  should  simply 
imitate  or  repeat  the  past.  An  able  student  of  social  and 
economic  problems.  Prof.  Wm.  G.  Sumner,  a  gentleman 
whose  abilities  I  admire  and  with  many  of  whose  conclu- 
sions I  agree,  in  an  article  entitled  "  What  is  Civil  Lib- 
erty ?"  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Popiihir  Science  Monthly, 
makes  the  remarkable  statement  that  the  doctrine  of  man's 
natural  liberty  is  a  "dogma,"  of  purely  metaphysical  origin, 
and  asserts,  in  italicised  phrase,  that  "  that  dogma  has  never 
had  an  historical  foundation,  but  is  the  purest  example  that 
could  be  brought  forward  of  an  out  and  out  a  priori  dogma." 
"The  doctrine  of  evolution,"  he  adds,  "instead  of  support- 
ing the  natural  equality  of  all  men,  would  give  a  demon- 
stration of  their  inequality ;  and  the  doctrine  of  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  would  divorce  lii)erty  and  equality  as 
incompatible  with  each  other."  "  Civil  liberty,"  he  says 
elsewhere,  "is  not  a  scientific  fact.  It  is  not  in  the  order 
of  nature  "  ;  and  all  these  startling  assertions  he  makes  /?i 
defense  of  the  doctrine,  the  natural  foundations  of  which 
he  arbitrarily  endeavors  to  undermine. 

To  the  evolutionist  it  is  quite  evident  that  if  the  learned 
Professor  Avas  as  well  instructed  in  l)iology  as  he  is  in  the- 
ology, metaphysics  and  the  a  priori  discussions  of  poetical 
economy,  he  would  quite  otherwise  interpret  the  sociologi- 
cal teachings  of  Evolution.  He  is  but  a  poor  student  of 
natural  science,  indeed,  who  would  simply  content  himself 
with  learning  facts,  witliout  endeavoring  to  trace  their  re- 
lations, to  study  their  causal  connections,  and  therefrom  to 
(b;iw  i)rophetic  inferences  to  guide  his  future  investiga- 
tions, to  interpret  underlying  laws,  and  thus  enable  liim  to 
push  forward  to  new  discoveries.*  To  say  that  Evolution 
"does  not  point  toward  civil  liberty"  because  communities 
of  men  have  never  existed  complet<dy  under  its  beneiicent 
sway,  is  to  cut  away  from  scientific  research  that  very 
synthetizing  and  prophetic  quality  which  is  its  noblest  and 

•If  the  doctrine  of  man's  natural  liberty  is  only  a  "dopruia,"  as  the  Pro- 
fessor (iL-clan-s,— :i  men-  sitcculative  ideal,  and  notliint;'  more,— then  it  is  idle 
to  iiurstie  sucli  a  cliimara,  or  to  base  upon  it  a  social  jihilosopliy.  lint  if  it  is 
a  eoiidition  of  social  c(|Milibriiini,  toward  tlic  realization  of  wliicli  man  lias 
been  working  tliroufrliout  all  the  stafjes  of  social  dc\clo]iniciit,  then,  like  the 
moral  law,  It  is  discoverable  tliront;h  ex)ierience  and  hisloriital  investigation, 
and  is  strictly  "iu  the  order  of  nature,"  though  uot  as  a  coiuidetely  realized 
ideal  in  society. 


of  the  Evolution  Philosophy.  25 

most  fruitful  cliaracteristic,»and  has  been  the  foundation  of 
all  advancement,  invention,  and  discovery,  from  the  birth 
of  modern  science  throughout  the  entire  history  of  its 
magnificent  achievements.  The  history  of  the  past  gives 
us  pointers  for  the  future  —  and  they  point  always  away 
from  the  crudities,  errors  and  failures  of  the  past,  in  the 
direction  of  an  ideal  perfection.  In  all  evolutionary  pro- 
gress, Nature  moves  along  the  lines  of  the  least  resistance, 
and  these  lines  are  not  usualh'  discovered  by  the  use  of 
metaphysical  divining-rods,  but  by  patient,  unbiased,  per- 
sistent investigation.  Myself  a  firm  believer  in  the  advan- 
tage and  necessity  of  a  larger  commercial  liberty  between 
nations,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  beneficence  of  this  prin- 
ciple will  ever  be  brought  home  to  the  convictions  of  the 
people  by  a  priori  theorizing.  The  sooner  our  Economic 
professors  and  social  reformers  appeal  to  the  facts  and  les- 
sons of  experience,  instead  of  to  metaphysical  dogmas,  and 
adopt  the  method  of  Evolution  in  place  of  that  of  specula- 
tive theory,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  reforms  which  they 
advocate. 

The  method  of  Evolution,  as  the  name  indicates,  is  in 
its  very  nature  progressive.  Evolutionists  know  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  in  nature  as  absolute  quiescence :  we  must 
have  either  the  activity  of  progress,  or  tlie  activity  of 
retrogression.  The  one  leads  to  a  higher  and  more  perfect 
life  —  the  other  to  dissolution  and  death.  Let  us  see  to  it 
that  we  choose  the  way  of  progress,  and  of  Life  ! 

"  The  outworn  ri.<;lit,  the  ohl  abuse, 

The  pious  fraud  transparent  gi-own, 
The  good  hehl  captive  in  the  use 
Of  wrong  alone  — 

"These  wait  their  doom,  from  that  great  law 
Which  makes  the  past  time  serve  to-day  ; 
A.nd  fresher  life  the  world  shall  draw 
From  their  decay. 

"O  backward-looking  son  of  time  ! 
The  new  is  old,  the  old  is  new  — 
Tlie  cycle  of  a  change  sublime 
Still  sweeping  through. 

"  So  wisely  taught  the  Indian  seer:  — 
Destroying  Siva,  forming  Brahni, 


26  Scope  and  .Principles. 

Who  wake  by  turns  earth's  love  and  fear, 
Are  one  —  the  same. 

"  As  idly  as  in  that  old  day 

Thou  mournest,  did  thy  sires  repine. 
So,  in  his  time,  thy  son,  grown  gray, 
Shall  sigh  lor  thine. 

"  Yet  not  the  less  for  them  or  thovi 
The  eternal  step  of  Progress  beats 
To  that  gi-eat  anthem,  calm  and  slow. 
Which  God  repeats  ! 

"  Take  heart !  —  the  waster  builds  again  — 
A  charmed  life  old  Goodness  hath  ; 
The  tares  may  perish  —  but  the  grain 
Is  not  for  death. 

"  God  works  in  all  things  ;  all  obey 

His  first  propulsion  from  the  night ; 
Ho,  wake  and  watch  !—  the  world  is  gray 
With  morning  light !"  * 


*  Whittier,  "  The  Reformer." 


JflJVIES    H.  WEST,  Publisher,  Boston. 

The    Moral    and    Religious    Aspects    of    Herbert    Spencer's    Phi- 
losophy.    By  .Sylvax  DitEY.     Pamphlet,  10  cents. 
"  An  able  popular  interpreter  of  the  evolution  philosophy." 

Scientific    Theism.      By    Francis   E.  Abbot,  Pli.T).     Clotli,  242 

pages,  s2.i)0. 

"  Dr.  F.  E.  Abbot's  new  book,  '  Scientific  Theism,'  contirnis  the  ojiinion  of 
the  few  best  able  to  judjre,  that  he  is  the  ablest  philosophical  thinker  in 
America,  and  that  his  work  seems  to  he  the  foundation  of  that  deeper  relijiion 
of  the  future,  sure  to  come,  which  will  satisfy  both  the  head  and  the  heart  of 
man." — Mr.  E.  B.  Haskell,  in  Boston  Sunday  Herald. 

The  Philosophy  of  Free  Religion.     By  Fbancis  E.  Abbot,  Ph.D. 

A  series  of  Nine  I'apeis  jirinted  in  The  New  Ide.vi^.  The  series  mailed, 
postpaid,  for  $1.(mi. 

The  Evolution  of  Immortality.  Suggestions  of  an  Individual  Im- 
mortality, based  upon  our  Organic  and  Life  History.  By  C.  T. 
Stockwell.    Cloth,  12m(),  gilt  top,  uncut  edges,  60  pages,  $1.00. 

"  One  of  the  most  suggestive  and  best  developed  essays  on  personal  immortal- 
ity which  later  years  nave  produced." — Literary  World. 

Science  and  Immortality.     Cloth,  75  cents  ;  paper,  .50  cents. 

A  "  Symposiuni."  givinn  the  opinion  of  many  of  the  most  prominent  scien- 
tific men  in  this  country,  concerning  the  rchition  of  science  to  the  question  of 
inuuortality.  Concise,  "candid,  the  earnest  thought  of  the  foremost  thjnkers 
of  the  day,  whether  of  expectation  or  of  doubt. 

The  Morals  of  Evolution.  By  M.  J.  Savage.  191  pages,  $1.00. 
Treats  such  topics  as  The  Origin  of  Cioodness,  The  Nat>ire  of  (ioodness,  The 
Sense  of  Obligation,  The  Relativity  of  Duty,  Morality  and  Religion  in  the  Fut- 
ure, etc,  etc.  ••We  all  owe  Mr.  Savage  thanks  for  the  earnestness,  frankness, 
and  ability  with  which  he  has  here  illustrated  the  modern  scientific  methods 
of  dealing  with  history,  philosophy,  and  morality."  "The  book  is  a  fund  of 
intellectual  and  moral  cheer." 

Evolution  :  A  Summary  of  Evidence.  By  Capt.  RoBX.  C.  Adams, 
Author  of  '-Travels  in  Faith  from  Tradition  to  Keason." 
Pamphlet,  44  pages,  25  cents. 

"  An  admirable  presentation  and  summing  up  of  the  Evolution  Argument." 

A  Study  of   Primitive    Christianity.     By   Lewis    (i.    Janes.     310 

l)ages,  -T^LoO. 

Treats  of  the  natural  evolution  of  the  Christian  Religion,  according  to  the 
historical  method,  applying  the  assured  results  of  modern  criticism  to  the 
question  of  the  historical  verity  of  Jesus,  the  investigation  of  bis  life  and 
teaching,  and  the  (lcveloi)ment  of  organized  Christianity. 

Uplifts  of  Heart  and  Will.  A  Series  of  Keligious  Meditations,  or 
Aspirations.  Adtln.s.sed  to  earn(')<t  Men  and  Wonnu.  By  James 
II.  West.  Cloth,  square  ISmo.,  beveled  edges.  Price,  post- 
paid, 50  cents.      (In  paper  covers,  80  cts.) 

"  On  purely  rational  grounds  it  is  not  easy  to  meet  the  position  [of  this  little 
book],  except  l>y  saying  that  the  words  and  forms  of  our  [usual]  devotion 
must  be  ac(-epte'd  as//7(/(A-/v  •>■.'/'"''"/''■.  and  not  innfn(d>lc  to  thr  iiiidcrstund- 
ing.  *  *  *  It  IS  good' to  weh-oiiie  a  religious  science  better  than  the  old  hard 
l)igotry.  Still,  while  we  liy  no  means  accept  these  •  Fplifts  '  as  a  necessary  or 
an  adeVpiate  substitute  for  the  customary  exercises  of  devotion,  they  are  at 
least  better  lifted  tlian  the  ordinary  iiraetice  to  a  state  of  mind  far  from  un- 
connnon,  and  greatly  deserving  of  resi)ect."— /•'cow  a  srn  n-jxit/e  notice  in 
the  Unitarian  Jlerieir. 

The  Duties  of  Women.    By  Fkances  Poweij  Cobbe.    Clotli.  $1.00. 

"The  profoundcst,  wisest,  pin-est,  noblest  book  in  principle,  aim  and  tone 
yet  written  ui>om  Xhe  true  position  of  n-onimi  in  sorieti/." 


Monthly,  $2.00  per  year.  Single  Number,  20  cents. 


Social    Science   and   a    Rational    Religion. 

THE   Hew   iDEAh. 

Some  Important  Articles  that  have  appeared 
During  1SS9. 

M.  J.  SAVAGE,  Religious  Instruction  and  the  Public  Schools;  "The  People" 
(Poem);  The  Coming  Civilization. 

O.  B.  FROTHING  HAM,  The  Keed  of  the  Hour ;  Theory  and  Conduct ;  A  "Word 
about  Agnosticism  ;  History  of  the  Free  Religious  Association  ;  The  F.  R.  A. 
and  Social  Reform  ;  "For  the  Cause." 

EDWARD  BELLAMY,  Xatioualism. 

LAIRENCE  GROXLUXD,  Prescriptions  for  Social  Ills ;  Freedom  or  Liberty ; 
An  End  to  Enforced  Idleness ;  Socialism  True  and  False  ;  Intellectual  and 
Etliical  Aspects  of  Socialism. 

REV.  DR.  McGLYXN,  Catholicism  and  the  Public  Schools. 

COL.  T.  "\V.  HIGGINSON,  Addresses  at  Convention  of  the  Free  Religious  Asso- 
ciation, The  Earth  for  Man,  etc. 

WM.  LLOYD  (iARRlSON,  Individualism. 

ED^VIN  I).  MEAD,  The  Function  of  the  State. 

REV.  W.  D.  P.  BLISS,  Christian  Socialism. 

REV.  N.  P.  OILMAN,  Profit-Sharing. 

FREDERIC  A.  HINCKLEY,  The  First  and  Great  Commandment;  The  Com- 
monwealth of  Man. 

WM.  J.  POTTER,  The  New  Ideal  in  Religion:  Letter  to  the  Free  Religious 
Convention;  What  the  F.  R.  A.  might  Do  ;  Bellaiuv's  Vision. 

B.  F.  UNDERWOOD,  Social  Conditions  and  Tendencies. 

F.  E.  ABBOT,  Ph.D.,  Creative  Liberalism;  The  Dependence  of  Ethics;  series 
of  nine  pajjcrs  on  The  Philosopliv  of  Free  Religion. 

GEO.  H.  HADLEY,  Science  the  Bes"t  Teacher  of  Liberalism;  What  does  Lib- 
eralism oiler  the  Workingman '.'  A  Socialistic  Object-Lesson ;  Industrial 
Training  as  a  Rcmcdv. 

F.  M.  HOLLAND,  Robert  Elsmere;  The  Exile  (Song);  Lucifer's  Umbrella  (A 
Fantasy,  in  Three  I'arts);  Who  Condemned  Jesus  to  Death;  Justice  and 
Taxes;"  A  Monument  to  all  Religions;  Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be;  How 
to  lessen  Poverty  (in  Two  Parts);  Peter  ami  his  Island, —  an  Allegory. 

DR.  EDMUND  MONTGOMERY,  Has  Morality  an  Kyolutional  or  an'Eternal 
Basis?  Supcrnatui-al  Ethi(ts  Irrational  and  Immoral;  Fatalistic  Science  and 
Human  Sclf-Dctcniiination  ;  Nationalism  or  Individualism'.'  The  Naturalistic 
Foundations  of  Nationalism. 

DR.  LEWIS  (i.  JANES,  The  Ideal  Liberal  Church  :  The  Evolution  of  the  Earth ; 
A  Brotherhood  of  Consent  ;  The  New  Idea  of  Religion. 

DR.  C.  T.  STOCK  WELL,  What  Shall  Liberals  do  with  their  Children?  The 
Top  of  the  Coach. 

A.  N.  ADAMS,  Agnosticism  and  Religion;  A  Study  of  Religion  and  Science; 
Reason  and  Religion. 

REV.  PERKY  .M.V15SIIALL,  "Pure  Religion"  ;  The  Evolution  of  Religion; 
The  Fundamentals  ;  Ki'loiiii  in  Worship  ;  Picking  the  Bible  to  Pieces. 

(HAS.  D.  B.  .MILLS,  Whether  a  New  Religion  or  Not. 

.M.  E.MILY  ADAMS,  Children's  Sundays  ;  Hospitals  not  Creations  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

ELLKN'.M.   MITClIKI.L.Tlu-  Freedom  of  Fate. 

(iEOK(iK  W.  I'.ICKLFV.  I'oliti.s  and  Morals. 

.MRS.  CL.\i:.\  M.  lUSBEE.  Frectlir.uglit  and  Ethics. 

HOR.\CE  L.  TK.MI'.KL,  Forth.'  Party's  Sake;  Solution  (Poem);  Notes  on  the 
Recent  Ethical  Convention;  Braveart  Tliou  in  Another's  Sjieech  (Poem); 
Sweet  Prattling  Child  (Poem);  Svinds  of  .Snows  (Poem);  "The  Sect  .String 
—  the  Hiiiiiaii  String." 

CHAS.  K.  WHIPPLE, TeatimonvtheBasisof  History  ;  Intellectual  Dishonesty; 
"The  Bible  Says." 

C.\I"T.  P..  C.  AD.\MS,  Something  Better. 

C.  B.  HOFF.M.W,  Integral  (o-oiicnition  in  Mexico. 
EIJZAHl'.TIl  I!.  CIIACE,  W<iinan  and  Current  Relorms. 

P..  W.  BALL,  ItoMiani-^m  and  American  Libei'ty;  The  Future  American  Citizen. 
ELIS.SA  .\L  .MOORE,  .\  Vision  Piwt  and  Future;  Women  and  Science;  Light 
(Poem);  Intellectual  l-'recdom. 

Address  Thk  Xkw  Tdkal, 
Este.s  Press  liuildiug,  1!)l'  .Simiiiicr  st,,  IJoston,  Mass. 


ERNST    HAECKEL 


BY 

THADDEUS  B.  WAKEMAN 


COLLATERAL   READINGS   RECOMMENDED: 

Ilaeclcel  and  Virchoiv,  in  Contemporary  Review,  vol.  xxxiii,  p.  540 ; 
Darwin  and  JIaeckel,  by  Prof.  Iluxley,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
vol.  \i,  p.  593;  article  Ilaeckel,  in  American  Cyclopaedia;  Ilaeckel's 
History  of  Creation,  Evolution  of  Man,  General  Morphology  of  Organ- 
isms, Freedom  of  Science  and  Teaching,  and  India  and  Ceylon. 


rn-^^^^^^^~~'^t^c 


CUZ^ 


PROF.  ERNST  HAECKEL, 

EIS  LIFE,  WORKS,  CAREER,  AND  PROPHECY. 
By  Thaddeus  B.  Wakeman. 

It  has  been  wisely  arranged  that  this  course  of  lectures 
shall  be  enlivened  from  time  to  time  by  some  account  of 
the  distinguished  naturalists  and  philosophers  whose  dis- 
coveries and  labors  have  given  evolution  its  modern  and 
scientific  form.  Thus,  very  appropriately,  in  the  first  course 
of  this  series  in  a  former  year,  the  pastor  of  this, church 
gave  an  admirable  discourse  upon  the  personal  career,  dis- 
coveries, and  influence  of  Charles  Darwin.  And  equally 
appropriate  was  the  most  interesting  account  of  the  life,  re- 
searches, and  services  of  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  by  our 
American  scientist.  Prof.  Edward  D.  Cope,  which  opened 
the  course  of  the  present  season.  Next  after  these  two  co- 
discoverers  of  the  great  law  of  natural  selection,  no  one  has 
done  more  to  sustain,  explain,  and  defend  evolution  than 
Ernst  Haeckel,  the  famous  Professor  of  Zoology  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Jena.  lie  is  the  leading  exj^onent  of  evolution 
upon  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  has  carried  its  conquests 
far  beyond  the  concepts  of  Darwin  or  Wallace. 

This  evening  is,  therefore,  properly  devoted  to  an  effort 
to  get  as  near  as  possible  to  him,  his  discoveries,  his  phi- 
losopliy  or  view  of  the  world,  and  his  religion.  We  can  ap- 
jiroach  liim  best  for  this  purpose  if  we  consider  his  career 
first  as  a  man  and  naturalist,  then  as  the  exponent  of  the 
monistic  philosophy,  and  lastly  as  the  prophet  of  "  monism  " 
as  a  religion — for  he  has  brought  into  use  this  word  "  mo- 
nism "  to  designate  the  final  philosophy  and  religion  of 
evolution  and  science. 

First,  then,  we  must  regard  him  as  a  man  and  a  natu- 
ralist, for  these  two,  man  and  naturalist,  in  his  case,  have 
never  been  separated  ;  and,  as  such,  there  are  few  personal 
characters  in  the  world  really  more  worthy  of  our  acquaint- 
ance and  study  than  this  same  German  professor,  now  at 
the  age  of  fifty-six,  working  busily  as  a  bee  at  his  pleasant 
villa,  or  in  his  lecture  hall  and  museum,  on  the  banks  of 


22 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecTcel 


the  Saale  River,  or  wandering  over  Europe,  Asia,  or  Af"ca 
as  the  knight-errant  of  Science,  or  defending  her  latest  ac- 
quis tions  against  retrogrades  and  Phihstmes  in  t^ie  scien- 
Tfic  assemblies  of  GernTany  and  Europe,  and  finally  receiv- 

ing  their  honors.  .   ^^c,. 

He  was  born  at  Potsdam,  near  Berlin,  Eebruary  16,  1834, 
within  a  day  of  the  anniversary  of  the  martyrdom  of  Bruno 
rFebruarv   17,   1600)   and  two   years   after    the  death  ot 
(Joethe    who  is  still  remembered  as  the  presiding  genius 
of  the  Saale  Valley-of  Jena  and  the  neighboring  Weimar. 
Haeckel's  chief   characteristic— we  may  say  inheritance— 
S  a  cMld  seems  to  have  been  a  love  of  nature,  which  psU- 
fied  his  being  called  a  German  Lmn^us     His  love  of  flow- 
ers began  in  the  cradle.     When  but  twelve  years  of  age  we 
are  totd,  he  was  quite  a  botanist,  and  had  collected  two 
herbaiSms_one  k^i<  in  which  he  had  placed  what  were 
then  called  typical   forms,  all  carefully  labeled   as   sepa- 
rate and  distinct  species,  while  in  the  other  a  secret  one 
were  placed  the  "  bad  kinds,"  presenting  a_  long  series  of 
specimens  transitional  from  one  good  species  to  another 
Such  discoveries  were  at  that  time  the  forbidden  fruits  ot 
knowledge,  which,  in  leisure  hours,  were  his  secret  dehglit 
—a  delight  which  grew  from  year  to  year. 

While  at  the  Gymnasium,  or  high  school,  he  prepared  a 
botanical  work  for  publication.     At  the  university  he  de- 
termined to  enter  upon  the  medical  profession  as  the  open 
gateway  to  the  secrets  of  nature.     As  a  student  he  seems 
to  have  enioyed  rare  advantages.     Under  the  distinguished 
professors  KuUiker  and  Leydig  he  studied  physiology  and 
anatomy  at   Wiirzburg,   and   then  under   Prof.  Johannes 
Midler  at  Berlin,  an  instructor  to  whom  he  gives  generous 
meed  of  praise  as  his  great  teacher-for  in  this  tone  he  feel- 
ingly refers  to  him  in  his  reply  to,  or  rather  duel  with,  the 
cefebrated  physiologist  Rudolph  Virchow  m  1878.    AV  heicof 
he  then  spoke  he  must  have  known  well,  for  ^^c  was  also 
the  student  and  assistant  of  this  same  redoubtable  hudolpU 
Virchow,  and  apparently  a  favorite  of  his,  until  his  course 
of  preparatory  medical  studies  closed.     At  their  conclusion 
we  find  ]iim  settling  down  as  a  practicing  physician  at  lier- 

lin  in  1858.  ,  ■■  i.  •      i     „„ri 

But  it  was  evident  to  his  instructors  and  friends,  and 
finally  to  himself,  that  he  was  called  by  nature  to,  let  us 
gay,  a  diflercTit  rather  than  a  higher  work— for  can  there  be 
a  higher  than  the  worthy  practice  of  medicine?    As  early 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecJcel.  23 

as  1854  he  had  been  engaged  with  Professors  Kolliker  and 
Miilier  pursuing  exjDeriments  and  researches  in  animal  tis- 
sues. In  1857  he  published  his  first  biological  essay  on  the 
tissues  of  crabs.  Two  years  after,  in  1859,  we  find  him 
withdrawing  from  his  professional  practice  and  spending 
fifteen  months  in  Italy,  engaged  in  special  zoological  re- 
searches. On  his  return,  in  18G1,  he  submitted  the  results 
of  his  studies  and  experiments  to  the  University  of  Jena, 
especially  in  an  essay  on  Ehizopods.  This  appears  to  have 
been  the  turning-jDoint  in  his  career,  for  in  the  next  year 
(1862)  he  was  appointed  Professor  Extraordinary  at  that 
university ;  and  there  he  has  ever  since  remained,  and  has 
been  steadily  advanced  from  one  position  of  honor  and  use- 
fulness to  another,  until  it  would  seem  that  pretty  much  all 
that  a  naturalist,  philosoj^her,  and  author  could  desire  has 
fallen  to  his  lot. 

During  the  thirty  years  of  his  professorship  he  has  had 
many  calls  to  other  and  foreign  institutions,  but  nothing 
could  equal  the  attractions  which  bind  him  to  this  favored, 
we  may  say,  to  him,  almost  sacred  locality ;  for,  by  singular 
good  fortune,  his  "  earthly  days"  are  spent  under  the  shadow 
of  those  Thuringian  mountains  where  his  great  protagonist 
and  inspirer,  Goethe,  dreamed  and  lived,  and  prophetically 
poetized  the  religion  of  evolution  ;  and  there  he  works,  too, 
in  that  very  same  old  independent  University  of  Jena  which 
Goethe  directed  for  years  with  the  expressed  hope  that  it 
would  some  day  open  up  this  new  science  of  evolution  to 
the  world.  How  deeply  this  landscape  and  these  associations 
affect  and  inspire  our  professor  is  seen  by  his  touching  fare- 
well to  them  on  his  dejoarture  to  India  and  Ceylon  in  Octo- 
ber, 1881.  Take  this  page,  for  instance,  which,  as  if  a  cur- 
tain Avere  raised,  opens  our  view  at  once  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  man  (page  11) : 

"My  arrangements  at  last  completed,  and  the  sixteen 
boxes  sent  in  advance  to  Trieste,  I  was  ready  to  take  leave 
of  dear  quiet  Jena  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  October. 
When  the  last  moment  arrived,  I  found  that  a  six  months' 
absence  from  home  would  be  no  easy  task  for  the  father  of 
a  family  who  had  already  attained  the  age  of  forty-seven 
years.  With  what  different  emotions  would  I  have  taken 
my  departure  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  a  tropical  journey 
was  the  chief  aim  of  my  life  !  True,  the  experience  of 
twenty-five  years  of  teaching  and  zoological  study  would 
enable  me  to  accomplish   more   than  I  could   have  done 


24   .  Pro/.  Ernst  Haechel. 

a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  But  I  was  twenty-five  years 
older  !  Would  the  concrete  wonders  of  tropical  nature  pos- 
sess tlie  same  fascination  for  me,  now  that  1  had  penetrated 
the  abstract  domains  of  natural  philosophy  ? 

"  These  and  kindred  thoughts,  together  with  the  _  most 
doleful  impressions  of  my  last  farewells  to  home  and  friends, 
passed  through  my  brain  as  the  train  bore  me  through  the 
cold  gray  autumnal  mist  which  enshrouded  my  beloved  Saale 

Valley. 

"  Only  the  tallest  peaks  of  our  magnificent  MuscMhalh 
mountains  rose  above  the  misty  sea ;  on  the  right,  Haus- 
berg,  with  his  '  rosy,  radiant  summit,'  the  proud  pyramid  of 
the*Jenzig,  and  the  romantic  ruins  of  Kunitzberg.  On  the 
left  stretched  the  wooded  heights  of  llauthal ;  and,  further 
on,  Goethe's  favorite  retreat,  charming  Dornherg.  I  waved 
an  adieu  to  these  dear  old  mountain  friends,  and  promised 
to  return  to  them  in  good  health  and  richly  laden  with  In- 
dian treasures.  ^    .    j,  •     n- 

"  As  if  to  ratify  the  promise,  they  gave  me  their  friendli- 
est morning  greeting;  the  dense  mist  suddenly  fell  from 
their  shoulders,  and  the  triumphant  sun  rose  into  a  perfect- 
ly cloudless  sky.  Thousands  of  dew-drops  blazed  like  Jewels 
in  the  azure  cups  of  the  lovely  gentians  decorating  the  grassy 
slopes  on  eitlier  side  of  the  iron  road." 

In  these  words  we  have  recalled  the  exquisite  landscape, 
with  the  mists  and  inspirations,  of  Goethe's  Novelle,  The 
Tale  (Mahrchen),  and  his  final,  noble,  wisest  Letter  from 
Dornberg  Castle,  in  those  "  saddest  days  "  of  1828.  Before 
this  scene,  and  as  its  product  largely,  we  see  our  heart-and- 
headf ul  professor  and  his  lovely  family  so  clearly,  lovingly 
depicted  that  ordinary  details  must  not  dim  the  picture. 

At  this  university,  Goethe's  university,  his  scientific  ca- 
reer began.  Here  his  early  enthusiasm  was  sheltered  when, 
in  18(31,  he  came  from  Italy  with  his  love  of  nature  kindled 
to  a  fiame  by  his  personal  explorations,  and  not  less,  per- 
haps, by  that  wonderful  epoch-making  book,  Darwin's  Ori- 
gin of  Species,  which  had  appeared  during  his  absence  hi 
18.^0.  lie  saw  at  once  that  the  simple  but  far-reaching  dis- 
covery of  the  law  of  "  natural  selection  "  (implying  '.'  sexual 
selection"  and  so  much  more  afterwards  given  to  the  Avorltl) 
contained  in  this  work  was  the  corner-stone  upon  which 
materials  collected  by  others,  and  recently  by  himself,  could 
finally  be  raised  into  a  com[)lete  and  noble  science  of  biolo- 
gy J  a  solution  of  the  problems  of  the  whole  organic  world. 


Frof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  25 

To  this  achievement  he  determined  to  deyote  himself  as  his 
lifework.  Wonderful  has  been  his  success,  because  he  has 
brought  to  bear  upon  it  a  rare  genius  sustained  by  a  phe- 
nomenal industry 

In  order  to  gather  some  notion  of  what  is  meant  by  "  phe- 
nomenal industry,"  we  need  but  to  glance  over  his  works 
and  explorations  for  a  few  years. 

In  1862  he  presented  to  his  university  a  celebrated  work 
on  the  Eadialaria,  for  which  a  gold  medal  was  awarded. 
In  this  work  new  genera  and  species  were  described  and  the 
whole  subject  newly  classified  in  accordance  with  the  new 
philosophy  of  the  genealogical  descent  of  organisms,  by  which 
he  justified  his  adhesion  to  the  new  and  then  unpopular 
Darwinian  doctrine  of  the  origin  of  species. 

In  1803,  before  the  Convention  of  German  Physicians  at 
Stettin,  he  introduced  and  stood  almost  alone  in  advocating 
the  new  views  and  discoveries  of  Darwinism  as  the  solving 
and  renovating  power  in  the  biological  sciences,  and  as 
tributary  to  medicine. 

In  1864  he  published  in  illustration  of  the  descent  of 
species,  an  important  work  on  the  Crustacea. 

In  1865  appeared  another  work  on  the  Medusce.  The 
result  of  these  publications  and  of  his  teaching  was  such 
that  the  University  of  Jena  began  to  be  recognized  as 
the  unrivaled  school  of  zoology,  comparative  anatomy,  and 
Biology.  A  regular  professorship  was  created  for  him.  A 
museum  was  established  with  a  lecture  hall,  and  his  fi'iend 
and  co-worker.  Prof.  Gegenbaur,  was  appointed  his  as- 
sistant. 

The  next  year  (1866)  the  first  of  his  larger  works  ap- 
peared. The  Organic  Morphology,  in  two  large  volumes, 
with  hundreds  of  charts  and  illustrations,  which  astonished 
the  proverbially  patient  and  industrious  Germans  by  their  ex- 
tent, thoroughness,  novelty,  and  general  importance.  Their 
main  purpose  was  to  prove  that  the  whole  domain  of  com- 
parative physiology,  anatomy,  and  embryology  was  scien- 
tifically reduced  to  successive  order  by  the  new  views,  which 
made  correlative  changes  and  functions  the  solution  of  the 
forms  of  all  living  organisms.  By  this  law  of  evolution  he 
proved  that  the  changes  in  the  development  of  the  embryo 
epitomize  the  successive  changes  which  the  genus  to  which 
the  animal  belongs  has  undergone  in  its  world-history.  This 
law  of  comparative  embryology  at  once  gave  to  biologists  an 
immense  power  of  prevision  and  discovery;  for  the  tribal 


26  Prof.  Ernst  HaecTcel. 

history  of  every  animal  could  be  largely  sketched  out  by 
indications  and  changes  in  the  embryo,  and  then  be  verified 
by  actual  research  and  observation  in  nature.  Thus  the 
genesis  of  the  tribe  {Phylogenesis)  and  of  the  individual 
( Ontogenesis)  were  made  to  throw  light  upon  and  to  reveal 
each  other. 

Another  view  of  great  interest  was  presented  in  this  work, 
that  the  simpler  organisms  or  microbes  represented  a  primi- 
tive condition  of  life  not  only  below  the  distinction  of  sex, 
but  also  below  the  distinction  of  animal  and  vegetable  life, 
and  were  really  such  simple  forms  of  protoj^lasm  that  they 
constitute  a  kingdom  by  themselves,  which  he  calls  the  Pro- 
tista and  regards  as  the  common  foundation  and  source  of 
both  animals  and  plants.  Prof.  Huxley  expressed  the  sen- 
timent of  those  capable  of  judging  when  he  pronounced 
this  Morphology  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  scientific  works 
ever  published.  Its  influence  was  largely  instrumental  in 
turning  the  tide  of  German  thought  in  favor  of  the  new 
biology. 

Certainly  after  such  a  display  of  genius  and  labor  the  re- 
quirement of  some  rest  would  appear  reasonable,  but  it 
seems  that  Prof.  Haeckel  never  rests.  His  vacations|  are 
spent  in  excursions  for  scientific  research  and  verification. 
In  the  winter  of  18G6  he  was  at  work  among  the  Canary 
Islands,  and  upon  his  return  he  published  an  interesting  re- 
port of  his  explorations  there  and  on  the  Atlantic  coasts. 

In  18G7-'08  he  determined  to  give  a  popular  exposition 
of  the  new  philosophy — the  new  view  of  the  world.  A 
course  of  lectures  was  accordingly  delivered,  reported,  and 
publislied,  which  are  now  known  the  world  over  as  The 
Natural  History  of  Creation.  This  work  has  gone  on 
through  revised  editions  from  the  first  to  the  eighth,  and 
lias  been  translated  into  English  (in  two  volumes,  by  the 
Appletons)  and  into  every  modern  civilized  language.  Ex- 
cepting, perhaps,  some  of  Darwin's  works,  it  has  done  more 
than  any  other  to  make  evolution  known  as  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  organic  world.  Of  it,  in  the  preface  to  his  De- 
Bcent  of  Man,  Darwin  uses  these  remarkable  words  : 

"  The  conclusion  that  man  is  the  co-descendant  with  other 
species  of  some  ancient,  lower,  and  extinct  form  is  not  in 
any  degree  new.  Lamarck  long  ago  came  to  this  conclu- 
sion, which  has  lately  been  maintained  by  several  eminent 
naturalists  aiul  pliilosophers — for  insUmce,  by  Wallace,  Hux- 
ley, Lyell,  Vogt,  Lubbock,  Buchner,  Ilolle,  and  especially 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecM.  27 

by  Haeckel.  This  last  naturalist,  besides  his  great  -work, 
Generalle  Morphologie  (186G),  has  recently  (1868,  with  a 
second  edition,  1870)  published  his  Natural  History  of  Cre- 
ation, in  wliich  he  fully  discusses  the  genealogy  of  man.  If 
this  work  had  appeared  before  my  essay  had  been  written,  I 
should  probably  never  have  completed  it.  Almost  all  the 
conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived  I  find  confirmed  by  this 
naturalist,  whose  knowledge  on  many  points  is  much  fuller 
than  mine." 

Yfhen  we  consider  from  whom  these  words  come,  they  are 
the  highest  encomium  a  work  of  that  kind  could  receive. 

In  1869  Prof.  Haeckel  published  an  essay  upon  the  evo- 
lution of  the  Siphonoj)horeSy  which  was  awarded  a  gold  medal 
at  Utrecht. 

In  1870  he  published  biological  studies  on  the  Monera 
and  Protista  of  the  Catallacts,  a  new  group  of  Protista. 

In  1871  he  spent  March  and  April  on  the  Dalmatian 
coast  near  Trieste,  and  August  and  tSej)tember  on  the  coasts 
of  Norway,  in  scientific  researches. 

In  1872  he  visited  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean 
for  similar  purposes.  During  these  three  years  he  delivered 
courses  of  lectures  at  Jena  and  Berlin,  and  published  arti- 
cles on  the  division  of  labor  in  nature  and  in  human  life ; 
also  on  life  at  great  sea  depths,  on  the  genealogical  tree  of 
the  human  race,  and  on  the  relationship  of  the  sponges  and 
corals. 

In  1872  appeared  auotlier  of  his  great  works — viz.,  The 
Calcareous  Sponges,  in  three  volumes,  with  sixty  plates. 
This,  like  his  Morphology,  is  an  epoch-making  work.  It 
answered  the  demand  of  those  who  insisted  upon  "  actual 
facts  "  as  the  only  proofs  of  evolution  by  showing  the  his- 
tory, connection,  and  descent  of  the  species  of  sponges  in 
such  masterly  detail  that  ignorance  of  the  work  was  the 
only  escape  from  conviction.  "With  its  publication  evolu- 
tion was  generally  admitted  to  have  passed  from  tlic  stiige 
of  hypothesis  and  to  stand  forever  as  a  verified  law  of  biol- 
ogy— its  fundamental  law. 

In  1874  he  published  essays  upon  the  Castra?a,  or  stom- 
ach, theory ;  The  Phylogenic  Classification  of  Animals ; 
and  the  Homology  of  Germ-layers  of  Aninuils.  All  these 
werQ  preparatory  to  the  great  work  which  follcnvcd. 

In  1874-'75  appeared  his  celebrated  Anthropogenic,  or 
Evolution  of  Alan.  This  is  a  popular  exposition  of  the  ori- 
gin and  evolution  of  man  as  a  race  (phylogenic),  and  of 


28  Prof.  Ernst  HaecTcel. 

man  as  an  individual  (ontogenic),  with  all  his  organs,  com- 
pared together  step  by  step.  It  is  the  true  Book  of  Gen- 
esis in  the  Bible  of  Nature,  and  proves  how  much  more 
strange,  wonderful,  and  interesting  truth  can  be  than  mira- 
cle, fiction,  tradition,  and  mythology.  It  is  going  through 
as  many  editions  as  the  Natural  History  of  Creation,  and 
should  be  read  directly  after  it,  as  its  counterpart  and  con- 
clusion.    (Published  by  D.  Appleton  &  Co.) 

In  1877,  before  the  Association  of  German  Naturalists 
and  Physicians  (the  leading  scientific  body  of  Germany), 
our  knight-errant  of  evolution  was  called  upon  to  enter 
the  lists°vith  the  celebrated  pathologist,  Eudolph  Virchow, 
his  former  instructor,  and  the  leading  spirit  of  the  uni- 
versity and  scientific  coterie  of  Berlin.  In  this  duel,  as  Mr. 
Gladstone  would  call  it,  our  knight  bore  himself  right  gal- 
lantly and  well,  as  all  may  see  in  his  work  which  resulted 
from  it,  which  appeared  in  1878  as  the  Liberty  in  Science 
and  Teaching  (published  also  in  English  by  the  Appletons), 
with  a  noble  and  useful  introduction  by  Prof.  Huxley.  Of 
this  work  and  its  bearing  upon  philosophic  thought  more 
must  be  said  when  we  touch  his  philosophy. 

We  have  noticed  enough  of  his  publications  from  year 
to  year  to  show  what  an  indomitable  man,  naturalist,  and 
worker  this  Ernst  Haeckel  must  be.  Ilis  past  assures  us 
that  he  will  go  on  learning,  teaching,  and  publishing  to  the 
end  of  his  days,  and  that  he  will  never  touch  any  topic  that 
he  will  not  enlighten  and  adorn. 

In  a  letter  to  an  American  friend,  written  by  his  own 
hand,  he  classifies  his  important  works  to  date  as  follows : 

I.  General  Biology  and  Philosophical  Works. 

1.  General  MorpholofifV,  18GG. 

2.  Natural  History  of  Creation,  18G8,  etc.  (8  edi- 

tions, 13  translations). 

3.  Collected  Popular  Essays,  1878.    (Bonn,  2  vols.) 
II.  General  ZoiJlor/iral  and  Phi/lor/enetic  Works. 

1.  Gastrtea  Theory,  1873. 

2.  Studies  of  the  Monera  and  other  Protista,  1870. 

3.  Anthropogenic,  1877  (3  editions). 
III.  Zoolof/iral  Jfonof/raphs. 

1.  Radialaria  (35  plates),  18G3.  • 

2.  Calearspongiie  (GO  plates),  1872. 

3.  Medusfe  (73  plates),  1877. 

4.  Siphonophorai  (G-l  plates),  18G9,  1888. 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecJcel.  29 

IV.  Reports  on  the  Zobloyy  of  H.  M.  S.  Cliallenger. 

1.  Deep-sea  Medusas  (32  plates),  1880. 

2.  Deep-sea  Kerator^  (8  plates),  1889. 

3.  Siphonophorae  (50  plates),  1888. 

4.  Eadialaria  (740  plates),  1887. 
V.   Vogages  and  Travels. 

1.  Articles  on  Corfu,  Brussa,  Teneriffe,  Norway, 

etc.,   from  the  Deutsche   llundschau,   18G6 
to  1878. 

2.  India  and  Ceylon,  and  Egypt  (published  in  Ger- 

man, English,  etc.),  1882. 

To  those  who  wish  to  be  introduced  to  our  author  per- 
sonally, we  say  read  his  India  and  Ceylon,  and  he  will  live 
with  you  as  a  delightful  friend  and  companion  ever  after. 
No  book  of  travels  is  superior  to  it^ — not  even  Darwin's 
Voyage  of  the  Beagle,  said  to  be  the  best  of  all.  In  it 
we  learn  to  admire  the  jihysical  courage  and  dexterity  which 
served  him  so  well  in  the  moving  incidents  of  flood  and 
field.  We  see  in  him  a  good  physical  type  of  the  German, 
a  little  over  six  feet  tall,  body  well  proportioned,  firm  but 
not  gross,  with  brainy  head,  straight  face,  auburn  hair, 
grayish-blue  eyes,  and  sanguine  temperament  of  the  true 
knight ;  ready  for  the  contest  with  A^irchow  at  Munich,  the 
elephant  hunt  on  the  Ceylon  mountain,  or  the  dangers  of 
the  coral  grove  in  the  depths  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  To  ap- 
preciate these  physical  and  mental  qualities,  think  of  a  Ger- 
man professor  naked  and  open-eyed  in  such  a  water-world 
as  this !     We  quote  from  his  experience  at  Punta  Gallia  : 

"  The  entire  attraction  of  a  coral  bank  can  not  be  seen 
from  above,  even  though  you  float  immediately  over  it  at 
ebb-tide,  and  the  water  is  so  shallow  your  boat  scrapes 
against  the  points.  A  descent  into  the  fluid  element  is 
therefore  necessary.  Not  possessinor  a  diving-bell,  I  at- 
tempted to  swim  to  the  bottom,  keeping  my  eyes  open,  and 
after  considerable  practice  accomplished  this  feat.  Quite 
wonderful,  then,  is  the  mystical  green  glimmer  that  illumines 
the  whole  of  this  submarine  world.  The  fascinated  e5'e 
is  continually  surprised  by  the  most  remarkable  light-etfects, 
quite  different  from  those  of  the  familiar  upper  world  with 
its  '  rosy  radiance  ' ;  and  doubly  curious  and  interesting  are 
the  forms  and  movements  of  all  tlie  thousand  different  creat- 
ures swarming  in  the  coral  gardens.  The  diver  is  in  a  new 
world.     Here  are  multitudes  of  remarkable   fishes,  crabs, 


30  Pfof.  Ernst  Haeckel. 

snails,  mussels,  star-creatures,  worms,  etc.,  whose  nourish- 
ment consists  exclusively  of  the  flesh  of  the  coral  animals 
on  which  their  habitations  are  fixed ;  and  these  coral-de- 
vourers — one  may  appropriately  term  them  '  parasites  ' — 
have,  through  adaptation  to  their  peculiar  mode  of  life,  ac- 
quired the  most  astonishing  forms,  and  have  been  furnished 
with  weapons  of  defense  and  of  olfense  of  the  most  singu- 
lar shapes. 

"  But,  if  the  naturalist  may  not  ramble  free  from  danger 
among  palms,  neither  may  he  swim  unmolested  among  coral 
banks.  The  Oceanidcs,  who  jealously  guard  these  cool  fairy 
regions  of  the  sea,  threaten  the  intruder  with  a  thousand 
dangers.  The  fire-corals  {MiUepor-a),  as  well  as  the  medusae 
swimming  among  their  branches,  sting,  when  touched,  like 
the  most  resentful  nettles.  The  floating  cilia  of  many  of 
the  mailed  fishes  {Synanceia)  inflict  wounds  that  are  as 
painful  and  dangerous  as  those  of  a  scorpion.  Many  crabs 
nip  in  the  severest  manner  with  their  powerful  claws.  Black 
sea-urchins  {Diadema)  bore  their  barbed  spines,  a  foot  long, 
into  the  flesh,  where  they  break  pff  and  cause  annoying 
sores.  But  the  worst  damage  to  the  venturesome  diver  is 
inflicted  by  the  corals  themselves.  The  thousands  of  sharp 
points  on  their  calcareous  structures  cut  and  abrade  the 
skin  in  various  ways.  In  all  my  life  I  never  had  such  an 
excoriated  and  lacerated  body  as  when  coral-fishing  at  Pun- 
ta  Gallia,  and  I  suffered  from  the  wounds  for  several  weeks. 
But  what  are  these  transitory  sufferings  to  the  naturalist 
whose  whole  life  has  been  enriched  by  the  marvelous  experi- 
ence and  natural  enjoyments  of  his  visit  to  the  wonderful 
banks  of  coral !  " 

Nature  may  well  bo  willing  to  reveal  her  secrets  to  those 
who  woo  her  in  this  courageous  way.  Nor  is  it  less  the 
delight  of  such  lovers  of  nature  to  make  the  treasures  they 
ac({uire  the  common  possession  of  their  kind,  and  such  a 
treasure  he  is  now  preparing.  The  work  of  the  professor 
now  i)assing  through  the  press  is  upon  the  organic  world 
bencatli  the  sea.* 

In  this  blessed  work  of  acquiring  and  imparting  knowl- 
edge our  autlior-hero  spends  liis  days,  and  we  nuiy  almost 
say  his  nights  too,  surrounded  by  a  happy  family  and  a  cir- 
cle of  friends  to  whom  he  is  the  most  loveable  and  therefore 

*It  app<'ar«'(l  In  .Tnmmrv,  ISOl,  fiifitlfd  Plankton-Stud icn— that  is,  Sea-Drift 
Stmlics -mill  is  a  n-rnarknlile  contribution  to  the  wonder-world  of  protoplasm, 
which  has  Its  real  home  in  the  sea-world  hidden  from  our  eyes.  We  hope  soou  to 
see  a  traiuliitiou  iu  English. 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  31 

the  most  beloved  of  men — a  circle  that  bids  fair  to  include 
the  enlightened  world ;  and  some  parts  not  so  enlightened, 
if  we  may  judge  from  his  difficulty  in  tearing  himself  from 
the  embraces  of  his  dusky  Ceylonese  attendants  when  he 
had  to  bid  them  a  sad  farewell !  So  also  we  must  part  from 
our  consideration  of  him  as  a  man,  to  greet  him  as  a  phi- 
losopher. But,  in  so  doing,  let  us  say :  Fortunate  it  is  for 
"  the  new  thought "  that  he  is  not  alone  or  singular  among 
evolutionists  and  scientists,  in  being  worthy  of  a  new  order 
of  sainthood,  in  which  devotion  to  truth  and  humanity  is  a 
saving  grace  to  them,  and  to  themselves  for  others.  So  was 
it  with  Darwin  and  Lyell,  and  so  is  it  with  their  living  co- 
workers and  followers  generally.  There  is  no  discount  to 
be  taken  from  their  personal  or  general  worth.  When  these 
pure  nature-worshipers  enter  the  Heaven  where  the  whole 
human  race  appears  in  the  Pantheon  of  memory,  how  soon 
Avill  they  rise  above  those  ancient,  mediaeval,  abnormal, 
sickly  fanatics  who  have  been  canonized  as  "  saints"  ! 

And  now,  secondly,  let  us  turn  to  the  philosophy  of  these 
men,  and  especially  of  Prof.  Haeckel,  to  find,  if  we  can,  the 
life  motive,  or  religion.,  which  inspires  such  noble  results. 
They  are  all,  indeed,  scientific  evolutionists ;  but,  of  them 
all,  Haeckel  appears  to  be  the  persistent,  consistent,  and 
complete  evolutionist,  and  as  such  he  is  entitled  to  name 
this  new  philosophy  and  religion.  The  name  which  he  has 
bestowed  upon  it  is  Monism.  The  only  complete  evolution- 
ist? Darwin,  Lyell,  Huxley,  Hooker,  Gray,  and  others  never 
went  far  beyond  their  special  sciences — never  assumed  to  be 
general  philosophers,  much  less  prophets  and  teachers  of 
religion.  Of  those  who  have  expressed  "  religious  "  views, 
we  notice  that  Alfred  E.  Wallace,  who  shares  with  Darwin 
the  discovery  of  natural  selection,  has  become  fatally  in- 
volved in  spiritualism  and  the  ghost  world,  so  that  he  be- 
lieves that  we  can  not  reach  the  human  Ego  by  natural  selec- 
tion. That  assumption  is,  of  course,  fatal  to  his  consistency 
and  usefulness  as  far  as  general  science  and  complete  evolu- 
tion are  concerned.  We  follow  him  gladly  until  his  appeal 
to  our  rational  nature  vanishes  in  the  shadowy  realms  where 
superstition  defies  science.  Then,  like  Newton,  before  the 
"  Prophecies,"  his  observing  intellect  is  powerless.  In  a  sim- 
ilar Avay  Herbert  Spencer  starts  out  grandly,  in  his  scheme 
of  universal  evolution,  but  develops  his  doctrine  of  the  "  Un- 
knowable "  before  he  reaches  the  human  Ego,  and  thus  his 


32  Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel. 

system  becomes  a  duality  which  denies  that  the  Ego  is  a 
correlate  of  the  known  or  knowable  world.  His  philosophy, 
therefore,  leaves  the  backbone  of  the  world  of  causal-se- 
quence broken  at  the  vital  point  where  the  objective  and 
subjective  unite  in  Humanity,  but  7iot  in  any  Unknowable. 
The  human  head  is  thus  fatally  dissevered  from  its  world- 
body.  That  is  to  say,  he  assumes  that  everything  is  only  a 
symbol  of  reality;  that  every  phenomenon  is  related  to  a 
"  noumenon  " ;  and  that  the  consciousness  of  man  is  not  a 
correlate  of  nerve  and  world  changes ;  and  so  between  the 
world  and  man  lies  an  unaccountable  gulf,  which  is  an  open 
gateway  through  which  Fiske  and  Wallace  and  the  clerical 
and  spiritual  "mediums"  have  (doubtless  contrary  to  his 
intention)  brought  back  the  whole  ghostly  tribe  of  entities 
and  spirits,  gods  and  devils,  to  torture  and  rob  the  human 
race  again.  The  trouble  is,  that  Mr.  Spencer,  in  assuming 
an  "  infinite  and  eternal  energy"  back  of  "all  things,"  an  ab- 
solutely unknowable,  inscrutable,  unliuman  noumenon,  has 
lost  his  grip  on  the  infinite  and  eternal  causal  concatenation 
of  things.  He  has  run  science  ashore  on  the  old  sand  and 
fog  bank  of  superstition.  There  is  nothing  to  do  but  to 
pull  off,  and  to  change  our  course  under  the  true  lights  and 
verifiable  methods  of  the  correlation  of  "  all  things."  * 

Let  us  be  thankful,  then,  that  there  is  one  complete  evo- 
lutionist who  knows  that  there  is  "a  causal  sequence  of^/e- 
nomona  "  from  the  farthest  star  up  to  and  including  the  mind 
of  man;  and  that  jilienomeoia  are  not  metaphysical  appear- 
ances  or  "symbols,"  but  facts,  events,  changes,  processes, 
realities!  Tliis  avowal  of  the  universality  of  the  law  of 
equivalence  and  correlation  in  the  works  of  Prof.  Haeckel 
renders  them  epoch-making  books  in  philosophy  and  reli- 
gion as  well  as  in  science.  According  to  that  law,  which 
has  no  limit,  no  exception  (not  even  of  the  human  con- 
sciousness or  Ego),  THE  WORLD  is  ONE ;  this  doctrine  is  Mo- 
NisAf.  All  of  the  world's  changes  arc  held  together  by  this 
one  fundamental  law  of  causaf  correlation,  from  our  mmd 
that  thinks  (the  true  noumenon),  ever  on  in  boundless  space 
and  time.  Others  had  said  the  same  thing  partinlly,  or  in 
whispers.     Haeckel  said  it  boldly,  and  with  an  evident  de- 

*  It  may  soom  iinpraciona  to  rofer  thus  to  the  "  Propherles  "  of  Newton,  tho 
"Pfti.acv"  "f  f'"mt4-,  tlH'  "Spiritism"  of  Wallace,  an.l  the  "Unknowable  of 
SiMMCT  nn.l  Fisk.^    But  lh<-  .■rrors  of  >.'reat  men  do  (,'reat  harm.    (.latitude  to 


tli>-iii  for  th.'ir  preeminent  services,  and  protection  from  the  harmof  llicir  errors, 
botli  rcMuire  a  fearless  ar>p<-al  to  ncience,  evolution,  and  their  practical  results. 
Suftlcient  time  has  pass-d  to  show,  in  the  f-i-"—  "<■  ♦»■"  "-.•Her  tl.nt.  iinim  at  tlio 
ideas  above  quoted  can  atuud  such  an  tti)pe( 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  33 

termination  to  endiire  the  consequences.  The  religious  and 
political  leaders  of  Germany  were  therefore  not  a  little  agi- 
tated when  he  came  forward  at  the  Association  of  German 
Naturalists  and  Physicians  at  Munich,  in  the  autumn  of 
1877,  with  a  paper  that  actually  favored  the  practical  teach- 
ing of  evolutionary  science  and  philosophy  instead  of  the 
old-time  theories.  Thereupon,  before  the  same  assembly,  as 
we  have  stated,  Virchow  was  put  to  the  front  to  defend  the 
conservative,  or  stahis  in  quo  position,  against  the  incom- 
ing tide  of  evolution  and  monism.  Haeckel  replied,  in  a 
discourse  known  to  the  world  as  the  book  on  Freedom  in 
Science  and  Teaching.  Together  with  Prof.  Huxley's 
careful  introduction,  it  should  be  familiar  to  all  our  readers. 
By  this  discussion  the  thinking  world  was  brought  face  to 
face  with  monism  as  a  philosophy,  and  thoughtful  men 
everywhere  are  trying  to  answer  the  question,  Can  it 
stand  ? 

Prof.  Haeckel  has  chosen  this  term  monism,  so,  as  he 
says,  to  break  away  from  the  errors  of  the  past,  as  indicated 
by  the  terms  theism,  materialism,  spiritualism,  etc.,  and 
also  from  complications  j)fO  or  coi^  with  other  modern  phi- 
losophies, such  as  the  positivism  of  Comte,  the  synthetism  of 
Spencer,  and  the  cosmism  of  Fiske,  with  whose  systems  any 
evolutionary  philosophy  must  be  nearly  allied.  _  But  he 
prefers  a  new  name  and  a  fresh  start,  and  takes  it  accord- 
ingly. 

Both  in  Europe  and  in  America  monism  has  already  a  con- 
siderable and  an  influential  following.  The  Aveekly  paper 
and  quarterly  review.  The  Open  Court  and  The  j\Ionist, 
under  the  very  able  editorship  of  Dr.  Paul  Carus,  of  Chi- 
cago, are  devoted  to  the  new  philosophy,  and  may  be  taken 
as  illustrations  of  the  hold  and  ground  which  this  new 
phase  of  scientific  thought  is  gaining  in  America  and  else- 
where. We  can  no  longer  ignore  it  or  be  indilferent  to  it. 
We  must  squarely  meet  the  question.  Can  it  stand  ?  * 

Monism  claims  to  be  the  last  and  most  consistent  word  of 
science  in  philosophy.  As  above  noted,  it  grows  out  of  the 
extended  application  of  the  fundamental  law  of  science — 
that  of  tlie  equivalence  and  correlation  of  all  knowable  ]^he- 
nomena  or  changes  possible  to  the  whole  world — thus  bind- 
ing it  all  together  ad  infinitum  as  a  unity.     The  advocates 

*  Fundamental  Problems,  by  Dr.  Paul  Cams,  published  by  The  Open  Court 
Company,  Chicago  (price,  $1),  is  the  important  opening  work  ou  monism  in 
America. 


34  Pfof.  Ernst  Haeckel. 

of  this  philosophy  are  waiting  for  some  one  to  bring  forward 
good  reasons  for  not  assenting  to  this  completed  phi- 
losophy of  science. 

Let  us  see  how  it  stands :  The  world  is  divided,  as  Aris- 
totle of  old  said  it,  into  matter,  not  living,  and  living.  How 
does  this  doctrine  apply  to  each  ?  In  the  inorganic  or 
material  world,  or  world  of  not  living  matter,  this  law  of 
the  equivalence  and  correlation  of  changes  or  phenomena  is 
universally  accepted.  The  volume  of  essays  by  Grove  and 
others,  on  The  Correlation  and  Conservation  of  Forces,  col- 
lected years  ago  by  our  friend  Prof.  E.  L.  Youmans  (pub- 
lished by  D.  Appleton  &  Co.),  swept  the  field  and  prepared 
the  way  for  monism  in  this  country.  That  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  story  of  our  science,  both  of  the  least  and 
of  the  greatest  world-changes ;  they  are  all  "  correlates." 
The  pull  or  push  and  the  consequent  motions,  revolutions, 
and  changes  of  our  sun  and  of  the  solar  system — are  they 
not  the  correlates  of  other  far-off  celestial  changes?  Our 
earth  and  its  surface,  and  all  that  takes  place  upon  it — are 
these  phenomena  not  correlates  of  the  solar  heat  ?  Those 
mechanical  and  other  changes  as  to  the  masses  of  matter  of 
which  we  read  in  physics,  as  to  its  elements,  of  which  chem- 
istry informs  us,  and  its  modes  of  motion  or  processes,  called 
heat,  light,  electricity,  etc. — are  they  not  correlates  all  ?  As 
to  non-living  matter,  the  question,  therefore,  is  settled. 

Next,  as  to  living  matter,  or  protoplasm,  known  only  on 
the  surface  of  our  little  earth,  yet  the  most  wonderful  of  all 
substances,  "  the  physical  basis  of  life  " — can  there  be  a  dif- 
ferent verdict  ?  Its  chemistry  shows  it  to  be  a  nitro-carbon 
in  unstable  chemical  equilibrium  (C,  0,  H,  N,  P,  and  8).  Its 
changes  are  not  only  those  chemical  and  physical  changes 
attending  other  colloid  or  jelly  forms  of  matter,  but  they 
include  that  wonderful  process  called  life,  which  is  the  con- 
stant adjustment,  reaction,  and  interaction  of  the  organic 
mass,  with  its  environment,  including  the  processes  of  as- 
similation, growth,  and  dinsion  into  cells  and  special  or- 
gans. But  these  vital  processes  are  manifest  correlations  of 
the  changes  occurring  in  the  body  of  the  organism  and  in 
the  course  of  its  ancestral  development,  or  in  the  environ- 
ment. Protoplasm  is  the  material  upon  which  the  impinging 
world  environment  plays  the  music  of  life  and  ultimately 
the  symphony  of  consciousness.  That  life-music  is  the  cor- 
relate of  the  two  series  of  changes — viz.,  the  protoplasmic 
changes  and  the  world  changes.     Life  is  not  an  entity,  a 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  35 

substance,  or  spirit,  or  ghost,  or  spook ;  still  less  is  con- 
sciousness such  an  entity.  The  latter  as  a  correlate  is  sui 
generis.  But  if  it  must  be  compared  to  anything,  let  it  be 
not  to  any  gas  or  material  substance,  however  impalpable, 
but  to  the  imponderable  agencies  or  forces — electricity,  heat, 
light,  etc.  The  life  of  man  is  a  process  resembling  electric 
phenomena  more  than  a  rarefied  gas,  but  it  is  distinctly  cor- 
related with  certain  physical  conditions,  and  neither  a  gas, 
ether,  nor  electricity,  nor  anything  but  itself ;  and  we  must 
get  rid  of  such  gross  materialism  in  dealing  with  the  subject 
as  that  involved  in  the  conception  that  life  is  a  substantial 
entity.  A  state  of  consciousness  is  not  a  property  or  qual- 
ity, or  even  a  process  of  matter,  but  a  sui  generis  correlate 
of  such  processes,  and  in  no  sense  one  of  them  or  like  them 
else  it  could  not  be  their  correlate.* 

We  must  also  thoroughly  recover  from  the  crude  idea 
that  correlates  are  mechanical  mixtures,  or  we  shall  be  ma- 
terialists or  spiritualists  and  not  understand  monism.  The 
law  is,  that  no  correlate  ever  resembles  its  antecedent  cor- 
relates, but  is  entirely  distinct  from  them.  For  instance, 
water  is  the  result  of  the  chemical  combinat'on  of  ox3'gen 
and  hydrogen  gases,  but  is  entirely  different  from  them,  and 
so  it  is  with  every  other  chemical,  vital,  or  mental  j)rocess 
and  product. 

In  regard  to  vital  and  social  phenomena,  they  are  in  a 
still  higher  degree  disparate  and  entirely  different  from, 
and  wholly  incomparable  with,  the  materials  and  changes 
from  which  they  result.  There  is  no  "  music  "  in  the  ^ilayer 
or  the  piano,  nor  in  the  vibration  of  the  air  caused  by  the 
playing  ;  but  the  correlate  of  that  vibration,  as  it  affects  our 
nervous  system,  is  the  state  of  consciousness  which  we  call 
music ;  and  it  resembles  nothing  whatever  which  has  pro- 
duced it,  not  even  the  changes  in  the  nerve-cells  imme- 
diately preceding  or  attending  the  consciousness.  The  pas- 
sage from  the  pliysiological  change  to  its  psychical  cor- 
relate, as  Prof.  Tyndall  says  in  his  Belfast  address,  is  "  un- 
thinkable,*' but  yet,  as  he  says,  it  is  a  correlate ;  it  "  has  its 
correlative  in  the  physics  of  the  brain  " — and  that  is  the  all- 
important  fact.f     AH  correlations  are  in  the  same  sense 

*  "  My  final  conclusion,  then,  about  the  substantial  soul  is  that  it  explains  noth- 
ing and  fjuarantees  notliing.  Its  successive  thoughts  are  the  only  intelligible  and 
verifiable  things  about  it,  and  definitely  to  ascertain  the  correlations  of  these 
with  brain-processes  is  as  much  as  psvchology  can  empirically  do."  (Principles 
of  Psycholofi.v,  Chap.  X,  by  Prof.  William  James,  of  Harvard  University.) 

+  See  his  Fragrnients  of  Science,  fifth  edition  (,Appleton"s),  pp.  -119,  4aO,  463,  524, 
and  to  the  end  of  the  volume. 


36  Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel. 

"  unthinkable."  The  music  sensation  is  the  resultant,  the 
unthinkable  correlate,  of  just  such  a  concomitant  nerve- 
change,  and  no  other  ;  and  that  nerve-change  depends  upon 
the  correlation  of  the  whole  world,  which  stands  behind  and 
accompanies  it.  The  consciousnesses  of  man,  and  the  co- 
operation by  which  they  become  the  Ego,  may  be  called  the 
felt  music  which  the  world  constantly  plays  on  our  nervous 
systems,  sensitive  and  quivering  with  their  own  unstable  and 
assimilative  life  processes.  Or,  to  say  it  again,  like  the  color 
music,  when  the  apparently  solid  rainbow  springs  from  the 
falling  drops  as  the  sunlight  plays  upon  them.  That  the 
psychical  changes  are  "  co-related  "  to  the  physical  changes  m 
the  nerves,  Mr.  Spencer  would  doubtless_  admit,  but  the 
correlation  is  only  complete  when  we  take  into  account  the 
generally  omitted  factor,  the  world  environment,  which 
really  plavs  the  music.  Speculations  on  this  subject  are 
generally  vitiated  by  the  omission  of  or  failure  to  realize  this 
factor.  , 

Thus  it  is  in  the  organic  world  of  nerve-action,  and  the 
mental  world  of  consciousness,  correlation  is  the  bond  of 
unlikes.  Norless  is  it  true  in  sociology.  The  "  body  cor- 
porate and  political,"  the  Leviathan,  as  Ilobbes  calls  it,  exists 
as  the  co-operation  of  all  the  individuals  and  sub-organiza- 
tions which  compose  it  and  influence  its  action.  But  the 
city,  countv,  state,  and  nation  is  not  to  be  found  by  any 
analysis  of  those  parts.  There  is  no  city  or  quality  of  a  city 
in  any  one  citizen — no  "teaminess"  in  one  ox.  Yet  we 
have  anarchists  constantly  reminding  us  that  the  whole 
can  not  be  greater  than  all  its  parts!  Just  as  though  it 
could  be  anything  like  them,  or  they  greater  than  it  or 
like  it? 

It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  this  law  of  the  unlikeness 
of  inseparable  correlates,  or  monism  can  never  be  under- 
Btood.  When  it  is  understood,  the  ever-varying  world  is 
made  one,  and  is  at  the  same  time  unlocked  by  it.  Haeckel 
has  beautifully  illustrated  this  law  in  biology,  where  he  has 
frequently  made  discoveries  that  would  make  the  fortune 
and  fame  of  ordinary  naturalists.  Take,  for  instance,  his 
Evolution  of  Man,  and  follow  the  relations  of  the  race  in 
history  and  of  the  individual  in  embryo  through  the  twenty- 
two  stages.  (On  pages  44  and  189,  vol.  ii,  of  the  Evolution 
of  Man.)  Tiie  formation  of  cells  is  correlated  to  their  past 
and  to  their  environment  in  the  four  simpler  states.  Then 
the  inner  and  outer  skins  change  forms,  and  develop  into  four 


Prof.  Ernst  EaecTcel.  37 

other  and  higher  stages.  Then  come  the  vertebrates  in  six 
grand  divisions  ;  then  the  mammals  in  eight  higher  classes, 
ending  in  man.  Then  every  organ  of  the  human  system — 
the  eye,  ear,  heart,  lungs,  etc. — is  traced  back  to  its  original 
formation,  and  its  changes  are  given  till  it  evolves  into  its 
present  form.  The  masterly  way  in  which  this  is  done  we 
can  hardly  appreciate  until  we  see  it  restated  by  other  com- 
petent naturalists ;  for  instance,  in  a  pamphlet  which  I  hold 
in  my  hand,  by  Prof.  Lester  F.  Ward,  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  of  Washington,  entitled  Haeckel's  Genesis  of 
Man,  which  I  hope  you  may  see,  and  which  you  may  doubt- 
less obtain  from  him  on  application. 

But  still  more  wonderful  than  this  physical  correlation  is 
the  constant  increase  of  the  mental  correlation  in  proportion 
to  the  rise  and  complexity  of  the  physical  organization  of 
animals  until,  finally,  the  highest  individual  manhood  and 
socially  the  highest  civilization  is  reached.  Each  of  the 
twenty-two  steps  which  lead  from  protoplasm  to  man  has 
its  "  soul,"  the  psychical  correlate  of  its  own  physical  state, 
its  conditions,  and  its  Avorld  environment.  In  all  this 
Haeckel  follows  the  plain'iutimation  and  conclusion  of  Dar- 
win, and  leaves  the  world  of  matter,  life,  and  mind  a  unity 
and  not  a  duality.  He  traces  mental  evolution  back  to  the 
protozoa,  and  thence,  step  by  step,  up  to  the  highest  "  crea- 
tions "  of  Shakespeare  or  Goethe.  There  is  no  break,  no 
duality  in  this  world,  and  no  limit  to  its  correlated  phenom- 
ena. The  is  is  ever  the  child  of  the  loas.  There  is  no  cre- 
ation other  than  causal,  efficient,  inevitable  correlation.  In 
nature  every  transaction  is  a  reality — a  complete  effect  and 
cause.  Phenomena  are  not  appearances  in  the  sense  of  being 
symbols  of  an  unknowable  reality,  as  Herbert  Spencer  and 
his  agnostic  disciples  would  make  i;s  believe,  but  they  are 
actual  events  of  which  our  sensation  is  a  direct  correlate. 
There  can  be,  therefore,  no  "  unknowable,"  for  everything, 
including  the  mind  of  man,  being  a  correlate  of  every  other 
thing,  may  be  brought  into  correlation  with  it  and  with  our 
consciousness.  The  unknown  may  be  practically  affirmed 
to  be  infinite,  but  there  is  no  break  in  or  duality  between 
the  mind  of  man  and  the  world  of  which  it  is  a  correlative 
part. 

To  the  agnosticism  of  Huxley  and  Dr.  Cams  as  a  confes- 
sion of  intellectual  modesty,  monism  would  answer.  Yes.  To 
that  of  Spencer  (or  Huxley)  as  an  assertion  of  an  unknow- 
able "  entity,"  "  energy  "  or  "  power,"  back   of  phenomena. 


38  Pfof.  Ernst  Hacckel. 

"  from  whence  all  things  proceed,"  and  beyond  jyossible  cor- 
relation and  knowledge — decidedly,  No  !  * 

By  tlie  same  law,  the  spiritism  of  Wallace  and  the  super- 
natural beings  and  entities  of  theologians  and  metaphysi- 
cians are  simply  impossible.  They  are  all  illusions,  or  the 
results  of  illusions  or  delusions,  Mdiicli  have  been  explained 
or  are  to  be  explained  by  science.  The  verdict  of  the  law  of 
scientific  correlation  remands  them  at  once  to  the  limbo  of 
all  spooks — the  world  of  the  imagination.  You  might  as  well 
argue  in  favor  of  the  astronomy  of  Ptolemy  because  the 
sun  rises  in  the  east,  as  to  argue  in  favor  of  the  existence 
of  disembodied  ghosts  because  of  the  common  illusions  of 
our  senses.  There  are  illusions,  delusions,  and  frauds,  natu- 
rally enough  and  in  abundance,  but  there  can  be  no  genu- 
ine "  spiritual  phenomena."  There  is  no  chance  of  a  pos- 
sibility for  such  a  thing  as  a  spirit,  a  ghost,  or  Spencer's 
unknowable  "  entity"  to  exist,  for  there  is  nothing  left  over, 
and  no  chance-work  possible  between  correlations  under 
this  law  of  correlation.  Existence  and  correlation  are  one 
and  the  same  thing.  There  can  be  no  life  to  come,  except 
as  it  may  be  a  correlate  of  this  life.  There  can  be  no  dual- 
ity in  the  universe.  Belief  in  duality  is  a  sin  against  sci- 
ence. Everything,  ad  infiniUini,  is  conceivable  as  correla- 
tion, and  therefore  it  is  reality  or  nothing.  There  is  no  possi- 
ble room  for  an  extra-mundane  God,  a  ghost,  or  a  spook  any 
Avay  or  anywhere  The  true  God  is  the  totality  of  the  corre- 
lated universe — the  divine  reality.  The  monistic  concep- 
tion is  not  of  a  "  first  cause,"  "power,"  or  "energy  "  outside 
of  all  things, "  from  whence  all  things  flow,"  but  that  the  only 
cause  and  causes  are  in  things — all  tilings.  Every  change 
is  effect  and  cause  in  never-ending  correlation,  of  which  no 
exception  or  limit  is  conceivable.  The  phenomenal  world  is 
a  reality  having  its  noumenon  in  the  human  intellect,  its 
coi'relate  and  its  interpreter. 

Such  is  the  philosophy  of  monism.  In  it  we  have  the 
philosopliy  of  Bruno,  Spinoza,  aiul  Goethe  extended  and 
made  exact  by  the  discoveries  of  modern  science — the  inde- 
structibility of  matter  and  the  equivalence  and  correlation 
of  all  knowable  world-changes  or  "  forces,"  as  they  are  some- 
times dangerously  called,  for  some  people  are  in  danger  of 
thinking  of  force  as  an  entity  and  not  a  change. 

*  Rfo  FiindiiiiK'ntnl  Prol)li'inR,  by  Dr.  Pnul  Cams,  fsppcinlly  tlie  chapter  on 
ACTTiosticism  anil  PhfiioiiK-naliHTn.  The  StronKliold  of  MyKliuism,  pp.  l;)7-154- 
16a.  and  fjrisnini.  Sve.  also.  Discussion  on  t)u'  Natnro  and  Ueallty  of  H('lif;ioD, 
between  Herbert  Speucer  aud  Frederick  Ilurrisuii,  pp.  30,  ICO,  ITU,  and  pumim. 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel  '      39 

But  if  this  philosophy  must  stand,  where  are  we  ?  What 
is  left  for  human  consolation?  Well,  things  may  not  be 
so  very  bad,  after  all.  "  There  is  no  wisdom  save  in 
truth."  We  used  to  be  frightened  by  ghost  stories,  but 
now  people  seem  to  be  frightened  when  science  tells  them 
that  they  are  realities  and  not  spooks.  They  seem  to  think 
that  life  becomes  too  terrifically  earnest  when  we  consider 
it  so,  and  a  flight  back  into  some  "  unknowable "  mys- 
tery is  sought  as  a  relief — much  as  we  seek  shade  from  the 
glare  of  the  sun.  When  each  Ego  sees  itself  as  the  bwn- 
ing  point  where  the  infinite  world  correlates  into  conscious- 
ness, it  naturally  at  first  looks  around  for  a  more  modest 
and  less  responsible  position.  But,  again,  correlation  is  our 
refuge  and  defense.  The  freedom  of  the  will  is  the  grate- 
ful illusion  which  gives  us  a  little  world  of  our  own,  by 
which  we  relieve  our  fatality  and  bring  our  light  to  bear 
upon  the  great  objective  world,  and  weave  our  existence 
into  it  as  a  satisfying  immortal  creative  power.  Thus,  life 
is  worth  living,  and  insures  immortality  by  its  beneficence ; 
thus,  religion  and  morals  receive  a  solid,  scientific  founda- 
tion. For  the  will,  scientifically  explained,  becomes  the 
basis  of  the  world  of  human  effort — our  subjective  world. 

The  freedom  of  the  will  results  as  a  practical  fact  from 
the  law  that  correlations  are  distinct  from  each  otlicr.  The 
will,  as  a  faculty  of  the  life,  mind,  or  soul,  has,  and  can  have, 
no  consciousness  of  its  own  origin,  and  so  is,  as  to  itself,  free. 
As  such,  it  acts  apparent! y  independently  in  the  order  of 
affairs,  and  counts  for  much  (in  Prof.  Huxley's  phrase)  "  in 
the  order  of  events."  In  this  way  it  becomes  the  founda- 
tion of  morals  and  discipline  and  practical  life.  In  a  simi- 
lar way,  the  rising  of  the  sun  in  the  east  founds  our  practi- 
cal almanacs  and  daily  duties  ;  but  objectively  the  sun  does 
not  rise  at  all ;  so  our  will  is  disclosed  by  science  to  be  a  re- 
sult of  our  own  life  and  mind  and  the  world  about  us.  Thus 
will,  free  as  a  correlate,  becomes  the  base  of  moral  relations ; 
but  all  those  relations  are  shown  by  science  to  be  subject 
to  objective  law,  which  underlies  the  human  will  just  as  it 
does  the  "  rising  sun."  The  illusions  arc  explained,  the 
lights  remain ! 

The  objections  to  this  monistic  philosophy  generally 
come  from  those  who  fail  to  comprehend  or  to  realize  the 
free-will  and  moral  results  of  its  fundamental  laws  of  corre- 
lation, and  especially  the  fact  tliat  no  correlate  resembles  its 
antecedent  correlates.     Prof.  Haeckel  is  by  no  means  clear 


40  PTof.  Ernst  Haeclcel. 

of  confusing  expressions.  For  instance,  he  speaks  of  "  me- 
chanical life  phenomena,"  "  atom  soul,"  all  matter  being 
considered  "  equally  living,"  "  molecule  soul,"  "  carbon  soul," 
etc.,  which  enable  objectors  like  Virchow  and  others  to  ob- 
tain the  only  advantage  they  have  ever  obtained  in  their 
discussions  with  liim.  But  until  life  and  mind  are  found 
to  be  the  correlate  of  non-living  matter,  and  not  of  the  or- 
ganic action  of  protoplasm  only,  such  expressions  by  Prof. 
Haeckel  and  other  monists  are  to  be  limited  to  the  proto- 
plasmic matter — the  brains  of  animals,  where  only  sentiency 
and  thought  do  exist.  Otherwise  they  are  simply  poetical 
expressions  as  though  they  were  used  by  the  jDoets  Goethe 
or  Wordsworth,  or  by  Comte,  "  subjectively,"  as  when,  for 
"  worship  "  purj^oses,  he  styles  the  earth  "  Le  grand  fetich." 
So  the  word  "  mechanical "  is  often  used  by  Ilaeckel  to 
mean  natural,  causal,  correlative.  Objectors  who  have  noth- 
ing better  than  criticisms  of  such  verbal  errors  of  expression 
have  need  to  remember  logician  Mill's  rule  of  safety  in  such 
discussions,  viz. :  "  Unless  you  refute  your  opponent  at  his 
best,  you  are  refuted  by  him."  Haeckel  is  a  German  and  a 
specialist,  and  thus,  as  a  monist,  may  have  sometimes  hazy 
or  limited  modes  of  expression  and  exposition,  but,  at  his 
best,  he  stands  on  the  verified,  irrefragable,  invincible,  inex- 
pugnable law  which  makes 'realities  of  and  u}iifies  the  facts 
and  processes  of  the  whole  world,  and  compels  us  to  conceive 
the  world  as  an  objective  unity,  and  not  as  a  duality.  There- 
fore, until  this  law  of  correlation  can  be  shown  to  have  a 
limit  or  an  excejJtioji,  the  philosophy  of  monism  stands  im- 
pregnable ;  and  Ilaeckel,  who  gave  it  this  name  and  recog- 
nized its  scientific  completeness,  is  rightfully  regarded  as  its 
latest  leading  champion. 

For,  thinllj/,  Prof.  Ilaeckel  is  prominent  as  a  religionist 
and  a  reformer-prophet. 

The  position  of  Prof.  Ilaeckel  as  a  leading  naturalist  and 
philosopher  would  doubtless  be  gracefully  acknowledged  by 
the  conservative  and  even  the  retrograde  infiuences  if  he 
would  not,  as  he  does  on  every  fitting  occasion,  lift  up  the 
voice  of  ii  prophet  and  insist  that  this  "  monism  "  is  also  a 
religio)!.  In  a  word,  that  it  is  the  future  lieligion  of  Science 
and  Humanity,  now  in  its  nascent  state.  This  fact  makes 
him  a  sort  of  terror  to  the  8i)iritual,  political,  and  temporal 
"  powers  that  be,"  and  a  subject  of  greater  interest  to  us. 
For  if  the  philosophy  of  monism  is  scientifically  sound  there 
is  no  escape  from  monism  as  the  religion  of  scientific  people 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  41 

— that  is,  of  people  really  intelligent  on  this  subject.  All 
religion  has  been  very  well  defined  as  some  philosophy  of  the 
world  applied  in  practice  and  warmed  by  the  consequent 
emotions.  Our  morality  we  may  then  call  our  individual 
practice  of  such  religion  in  social  life  and  intercourse. 
Back  of  every  religion,  therefore,  lies  some  view  and  theory 
of  the  world,  a  cosmology  or  philosophy,  by  which  each  peo- 
ple or  sect  ciphers  out,  as  best  it  can,  some  tolerable  rela- 
tion to  the  mighty  world  and  the  social  organism  and  all 
their  fellow  human  beings.  We  find  the  religious  history 
of  our  race  to  consist,  therefore,  of  a  gradual  evolution  of 
its  leading  peoples  from  a  broad  base  of  general  animism 
and  fetichism,  thence  to  astrology,  thence  to  polytheism, 
thence  to  monotheism,  and  thence  to  scientism,  expressed 
chiefly  to  us  in  the  pantheism  of  Goethe,  the  positivism  of 
Comte,  the  synthetism  of  Spencer,  the  cosmism  of  Fiske, 
and  finally  by  the  monism  of  Haeckel.  He  proposed  this 
word  monism  as  expressive  of  the  world-unifying  Jaw  of 
science,  as  the  summary  of  all  that  was  true  and  good  in 
the  other  philosophic  names  proj^osed  by  the  philosophers 
just  named,  while  it  excluded  what  he  regards  as  the  crude 
and  vulgar  notions  of  materialism,  spiritualism,  and  dualism. 
Our  professor  is  very  brave,  like  many  Germans,  in  in- 
venting new  words  instead  of  adding  new  meanings  or 
shades  of  meaning  to  old  ones.  If  scientific  people  would 
take  religiously  to  this  name,  monism,  it  would  certainly 
help  to  clear  up  things  wonderfully,  for  it  excludes  at  once 
a  mass  of  old  erroi's  and  misconceptions  which  will  hang 
around  the  old  words  ;  but  to  many  it  is  just  this  protective 
twilight  of  uncertainty  in  philosophy  and  religion — half 
concealing  and  half  revealing — which  makes  old  names, 
symbols,  and  ideas  alternately  repelling  and  attractive,  tan- 
talizing and  comforting.  Our  monist  prophet  has  brought 
us  well  out  of  this  twilight,  and  the  situation  looks  better 
the  clearer  it  is  seen.  Every  clear  view  of  the  world  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  sincere  conviction,  and  such  conviction  becomes 
a  "  faith  "  and  an  enduring  well-spring  of  energy  and  con- 
solation. ]\[onism  in  that  view  rises  above  all  religions  as 
the  culmination  of  all.  If  anything  can  be,  it  is  the  imi- 
versal  faith.  Because  it  is  based  upon  verified  science,  it  is 
positive  monism ;  because  it  depends  upon  the  objective 
unity  of  the  world,  it  is  rnonistic  positivism.  By  one  name 
or  another  the  highest  scientific  solution  of  the  world,  so- 
"^  ciety,  and  man,  when  scientific  methods  arc  carried  to  their 


42  Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel. 

final  results  over  every  known  domain,  must  result  in  a  sci- 
entific faith.  1  1  • 
This  scientific  faith,  or  faith  according  to  knowledge,  is 
certainly  the  rising  faith  of  mankind.  It  received  its  solid, 
everlasting  foundation  when  Copernicus,  Bruno,  and  Gali- 
leo gave  us  the  true  solar  system,  which  revealed  to  us  a 
new  earth  and  a  new  heaven,  and  consequently  a  new 
philosophy,  finally  to  lead  to  this  new  religion.  From  Des- 
cartes, Spinoza,  Bacon,  and  Diderot,  Goethe  received  this 
new  world  of  science,  barren  and  forlorn,  as  it  rose  out  of 
the  chaos  of  the  French  revolution.  He  was  the  first  great 
creative  and  furnishing  soul  that  fully  moved  into  it  to 
stay.  He  peopled  it  with  enduring  and  even  liumau  char- 
acters, sowed  the  seed  to  cover  the  naked  landscape  Avith  use 
and  beauty,  and  made  the  very  clouds  glow  with  a  light  that 
foretold  a  higher  heaven  than  humanity  had  ever  dreamed. 

Haeckel  is  fond  of  quoting  Goethe  ;  and  well  he  may  be. 
As  we  recede  in  time,  the  distance  brings  out,  mountain- 
like, the  true  height  of  tliis  poet-prophet  of  the  new  faith 
of  the  new  era.  We  begin  to  see  how  he,  in  science,  had  a 
sure  prevision  of  the  results  of  our  evolution  ;  in  politics, 
he  discounted  the  French  revolution  and  the  metaphysical 
anarchy  of  liis  and  even  of  our  time ;  in  religion,  he  rightly 
estimated  all  tlie  theologies,  and  sung  the  emancipation  of 
erring  man  (Faust),  from  the  very  devil  to  whom  he  had 
sold  himself,  and  the  conquest  of  a  heaven  of  ever-increas- 
ing progress  and  blessedness  by  his  own  victorious  striving 
to  accomplish  the  good.  In  a  wonderful  poem  called  In- 
heritance ( Vermdchtniss)  Goethe  expressly  dates  the  new 
era  from  "  the  sage  who  showed  the  eartli  to  circle  around 
the  sun  and  taught  her  sister  orbs  their  patlis." 

These  triumphs  of  astronomy,  followed  by  similar  prog- 
ress in  physics  and  chemistry,  made  sure  the  material 
foundation  of  the  scientific  faith  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century.  Our  century  opened  with  the  great  triumphs  in 
biologv,  or  the  organic  world,  led  by  Oken,  Goethe,  and 
especially  the  unappreciated  Lamarck.  They  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  tlie  new  faith  in  the  vital  world,  upon  which  Dar- 
win and  Haeckel  have  well-nigh  completed  the  structure. 
From  Lamarck's  Philosophie  Zoologique  (1809)  Haeckel 
quotes  tl)is  biological  foundation  in  a  useful  summary,  as 
follows  (History  of  Creation,  vol.  i,  p.  112)  : 

"  The    systematic   division   of    classes,   orders,  families,  ^ 
genera,  and  species,  as  well  as  their  designations,  are  the  ^ 


Prof.  Ernst  Haechel.  43 

arbitrary  and  artificial  productions  of  man.  The  kinds  or 
species  of  organisms  are  of  unequal  age,  developed  one  after 
another,  and  show  only  a  relative  and  temporary  persist- 
ence. Species  arise  out  of  varieties.  The  dilferences  in  the 
conditions  of  life  have  a  modifying  influence  on  the  organi- 
zation, the  general  form,  and  the  parts  of  animals,  and  so 
has  the  use  or  disuse  of  organs.  In  the  first  beginning 
only  the  very  simplest  and  lowest  animals  and  plants  came 
into  existence ;  those  of  a  more  complex  organization  only 
at  a  later  period.  The  course  of  the  earth's  develojDment, 
and  that  of  its  organic  inhabitants,  was  continuous,  not  inter- 
rupted by  violent  revolutions.  Life  is  purely  a  physical  phe- 
nomenon. All  the  johenomena  of  life  depend  on  mechanical, 
physical,  and  chemical  causes,  Avhich  are  inherent  in  the 
nature  of  matter  itself.  The  simjDlest  animals  and  the 
simplest  plants,  which  stand  at  the  lowest  point  in  the  scale 
of  organization,  have  originated  and  still  originate  by  spon- 
taneous generation.  All  animate  natural  bodies  or  organ- 
isms are  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  inanimate  natural 
bodies  or  organs.  The  ideas  and  actions  of  the  understand- 
ing are  the  emotional  i^henomena  of  the  central  nerve 
system.  The  will  is  in  truth  never  free.  Eeason  is  only 
a  higher  degree  of  development  and  combination  of  judg- 
ments." Thus  was  the  truth  sj^oken,  but  none  then  had 
ears  to  hear. 

Next  as  to  the  sociological  foundation  : 

In  1857  Auguste  Comte,  another  unappreciated  French- 
man, had  done  for  sociology  what  Copernicus  did  for  as- 
tronomy and  Lamarck  had  done  for  biology.  He  had 
named  and  outlined  and  misap2)lied  that  science.  He  dis- 
covered that  man  was  not  the  product  of  Nature  only,  but 
of  society  and  its  continuity  and  solidarity ;  tliat  there  was 
no  solution  of  man  without  society:  '■'■  Entre  Vhomme  ct  le 
monde  il  faut  VhnmanUe.''''  Between  man  and  the  world, 
he  said,  there  lies,  and  there  is  need  of,  humanity,  as  the 
solution  of  the  world  and  the  saviour  of  man.  Comte,  if 
he  did  not  originate,  brought  into  order  the  first  positive 
philosophy,  and  on  it  founded  his.  "  ])ositive "  religion. 
We  have  from  him  some  indispensable  tilings  lying  at  the 
very  base  of  monism,  which,  because  of  liis  papistic  notions, 
are  fatally  overlooked,  but  without  which  monism  can  not 
be  understood  or  appreciated,  viz. : 

1.  A  truer  view  of  the  relativity  of  knowledge ;  that  it  re- 
lates to  man  and  not  to  any  objective  "  uoumenou." 


44  Prof.  Ernst  Haechel. 

2.  A  true  correlative  classification  of  the  special  sciences, 
viz.,  astronomy,  j)hysics,  chemistry,  biology,  sociology,  eth- 
ics, psychology  ;  that  is,  from  the  greater  and  general  to  the 
smaller  and  more  complex — i.  e.,  from  the  star-world  down 
to  the  mind  of  man. 

3.  The  law  of  the  "  three  states,"  or  of  "  deanthropo- 
morphization,"  as  John  Fiske  states  it  with  his  peculiar 
brevity.  That  is,  that  man's  philosophical  conceptions 
develop  from  theology  to  metaphysics,  and  finally  to  soi- 
ree. 

4.  The  supremacy  of  humanity ;  as  the  solution,  guaran- 
tor, and  chief  factor  of  human  life  and  human  affairs. 

5.  The  general  law  of  interdependence ;  that  the  higher 
rests  upon  the  lower,  buc  that  both  are  for  each  other. 

6.  That  rights  and  duties  are  the  two  sides  of  the  same 
relation  under  the  love,  order,  and  progress  of  scientific  so- 
ciology. 

The  French  people  are  slow  to  discover  their  great  men. 
Lamarck  and  Comte  have  never  been  understood  by  theo- 
logical and  metaphysical  France ;  and  the  France  of  science, 
aside  from  narrow-minded  specialism,  has  yet  chiefly  to 
come. 

The  works  of  Herbert  Spencer  and  of  our  own  John 
Fiske  are  also  able  approaches  to  monism,  and  are  too  Avell 
known  in  this  country  to  require  lengthy  exposition^  here. 
They  have  added  materially  to  the  better  understanding  of 
the  new  philosophy  and  religion  of  science,  and,  as  commen- 
taries upon  and  contributions  toward  it,  are  invaluable.  We 
have  noted  the  error  that  seems  to  many  common  to  them 
both,  so  plainly  pointed  out  and  dwelt  upon  by  Frederic 
Harrison,  the  "English  positivist,  in  his  celebrated  religious 
discussions  with  Mr.  Spencer — viz.,  the  unwarranted  assump- 
tion of  an  unknowable  "  entity  "  or  "  energy  "  back  of  phe- 
nomena and  buck  of  human  consciousness.  This  seems  to 
be  plainly  irreconcilable  with  the  doctrine  of  universal  corre- 
lation. And  that  it  is  as  ])lainly  "  unreligious  "  in  its  practi- 
cal consecjuences,  I  think  Mr.  Harrison  has  made  equally 
matiifest  in  the  Discussion  referred  to. 

The  cosmic  emotion,  with  its  wonder,  awe,  and  venera- 
tion, is  excited  and  best  sustained  by  The  All — the  world  of 
correlation — and  not  by  any  "  energy  "  outside  of  it :  "  from 
whence  all  things  flow,*"  as  Mr.  Spencer  tells  us.  The  ''■all 
things"  which  does  not  include  all  possible  "energy  "  is  an 
incomplete  schedule.     "  Energy  "  is  a  correlated  part  of  "  all 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  45 

things  "  or  it  is  notliing.  It  is  this  imcorrelated  nothing 
which  is  the  nest-egg  of  all  suj^erstition  and  which  breeds 
uncertainty  and  terror  instead  of  true,  healthy  world-wor- 
ship, the  cosmic  emotion  of  Goethe,  Shelley,  Byron,  Words- 
worth, and  of  the  modern  school  of  natural  poetry  an(J 
painting — the  proper  emotional  side  of  modern  science. 

Fortunately,  Prof.  Haeckel  is  not  bothered  by  the  "  un. 
knowable  noumenon,"  nor  was  Comte  or  Goethe,  All 
expressions  from  their  works  that  seem  to  imply  that  they 
placed  a  "  noumenon  "  outside  of  the  world,  mankind  or  tlie 
Ego,  are,  in  religion,  as  in  jihilosophy,  to  be  reconciled  with 
science  or  read  as  poetry.  As  scientists  'and  religionists  they 
held  no  parley  with  "  unknowable "  energies,  entities,  or 
spooks  of  any  kind,  following  strictly  Faust's  last  advice  to 
man: 

"  Wenn  Geister  spucken,  geh'  er  seinen  Gang." 
When  ghosts  spook,  let  him  go  straight  on  his  way. 

Or,  again : 

"  Willst  du  in  Unendliches  schreiten  ? 
Geh'  niir  in  endlichen  nach  alien  Seiten  ! " 
In  the  Infinite  wilt  thou  stray  ? 
Through  the  Finite  take  thy  way  I 

The  astonishing  thing  about  Goethe,  Comte,  and  Haeckel 
is  that  they  in  religion  so  thoroughly  emancipated  them- 
selves from  theology  and  metaphysics ;  and  two  of  them 
were  Germans !  The  result  is,  that  they  and  their  school 
of  general  scientists  and  reformers  are,  as  we  enter  the  new 
era,  the  chief  sources  of  any  true  enlightenment  or  guidance, 
especially  in  religious,  social,  or  political  affairs.  Of  course 
these  men  are  in  no  sense  to  be  regarded  individually  as 
models,  but  they  had  reached  the  scientific,  historical  spirit, 
which  is  always  integrative,  saving,  and  yet  progressive. 
Take,  for  example,  Comte's  view  of  sociology  and  politics. 
These,  like  the  concei)tion  of  God  and  every  other  subject, 
according  to  Comte's  law,  evolve  through  the  three  stages 
of  theology,  metaphysics,  and  science.  The  old  theologic 
phase  or  method  in  sociology  and  politics  is  that  of  divine 
command  or  authority.  "  Thus  saith  tlic  Lord,"  etc.  Then 
comes  the  metaphysical  stage  and  phase,  Avhich  is  one  of 
defiance,  rights,  revolutions,  "  administrative  niliilism,"  re- 
fusal to  co-operate  or  do  anything  but  to  agitato,  fume,  and 
grumble.  This  spirit  of  anarchy,  now  ranijiant  an\ong  our 
reformers,  is  in  many  respects  more  destructive  and  unpro- 


46  Prof.  Ernst  Haechel. 

gressive  tlian  tlie  old  principle  of  authority.  It  can  never 
agree  upon  any  proposition  for  social  reform  but  not  to 
do  it.     Rights  are  fatally  divorced  from  duties. 

But  there  is  a  third  view  and  spirit  in  regard  to  social 
and  political  affairs— a  spirit  of  science,  which  breathesfrom 
tfie  works  of  the  great  men  we  have  named.  That  _  spirit  is 
evolutionarv.  It  is  integrative  and  yet  differentiative,  con- 
servative and  yet  progressive— laying  the  sure  foundation  of 
the  real  liberty  and  welfare  of  the  individual  in  the  social, 
integrative  order,  which,  no  matter  what  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, can  alone  make  such  liberty  and  welfare  possible. 
Take,  for  instance,  Goethe's  remarkable  letter  from  the  Dorn- 
berg  Castle  in  1828,  to  which  we  have  referred,  on  the  cTeath 
of  the  Duke,  upon  the  administration  of  the  little  world  of 
the  Duchy  of  Weimar,  and  compare  its  far-reaching  Musdom, 
resting  upon  the  continuity  and  solidarity  of  society,  vrith 
the  shallowness  of  the  French  social  philosophy  of  that  day 
or  of  our  current  metaphysical  anarchism.  Or  do  the  same 
with  the  sociology  of  Comte— excepting,  of  course,  his  pa- 
pistic Utopia,  which  belongs  only  to  the  past  polity  of  the  ^ 
Latin  races,  as  to  which  he  was  misled,  largely  by  De  Mais- 
tre's  work  on  the  Pope. 

Then  turn  to  the  latter  part  of  Haeckel's  Freedomof 
Science  and  Teaching,  and  see  how  under  the  scientific 
spirit  he,  too,  preserves  the  integrative  and  the  differenti- 
ative sides  of  social  progress,  and  refuses  to  be  driven  into 
anarchy  by  the  taunts  of  Virchow,  who  evidently  sought  in 
that  way  to  compass  his  destruction.  Ilaeckcl  had  never 
the  time  to  study  deeply  history,  law,  statesmanship,  or  poli- 
tics, yet  his  scientific  "instinct  and  spirit  enabled  him  to 
apply  in  sociology  the  law  of  biology;  that  true  progress 
in  the  social,  as  "in  the  animal,  world  must  be  an  ever-in- 
creasing integration  of  the  functions  of  organs  ever  increas- 
ing in  their  freedom  of  individual  action.  This  law,  stated 
by  fJoethc  fifty  years  ago  and  quoted  from  him  by  our  Carey 
as  the  basis  of  his  great  work  on  Social  Science,  is  just  as 
true  of  a  jelly-fish  as  of  an  elephant— of  a  Roman  Empire 
as  of  a  mail  fit  is  true  of  every  social  organism ;  of  tlie  Re- 
public of  tlie  United  States,  or  of  tlie  Republic  of  the  World  ! 
If  some  intimation  of  this  law  could  reach  our  anarchistic 
reformers,  how  soon  their  metaphysical  bubbles  would  col- 
lapse ! 

Finally.— It  we  turn  to  the  treatment  of  the  religions 
progress "  of  mankind  under  this  scientific  spirit  of  evolu- 


Prof.  Ernst  Haeckel.  47 

tion,  we  find  the  wisdom  and  influence  of  the  same  great 
men  a  source  of  real  health  and  strength.  They  only  give 
us  religion  without  the  superstition  of  theology  or  the  an- 
archy of  metaphysics.  It  seems  clear  that  from  them  and 
their  spirit  we  must  learn  or  go  on  from  bad  to  worse.  The 
religion  which  is  the  social,  integrative,  co-operative,  and 
saving  element  of  human  nature  can  no  longer  be  fed  and 
sustained  by  ghostly  gods,  spooky  devils,  categorical  im- 
peratives, or  inscrutable  unknowables.  Voltaire  (as  quoted 
on  the  title-page  of  his  Biography  by  James  Parton)  asks 
the  j)ertinent  question  which  he  could  not  answer : 

"  'Tis  a  pity  to  spend  half  of  our  life  in  destroying  enchanted  castles. 
Far  better  to  establish  truths  than  to  examine  lies — but  where  are 
the  truths?" 

Thanks  to  evolution,  the  truths  have  come  and  are  coming 
in  their  good  time.  Up  to  Voltaire's  day  the  known  world 
had  been  little  more  than  an  enchanted,  or  rather  ghost- 
haunted,  castle  of  existence.  His  German  successor,  Goethe, 
used  the  true  to  realize  the  good  and  beautiful.  He  ac- 
cejDted  this  life  in  the  monistic  spirit  as  the  real  fact,  and 
the  whole  world  and  God  as  one — The  All.  The  concep- 
tions of  God  from  the  Hebrew  prophets  down,  when  freed 
from  limitations  and  anthropomorphisms,  end  in  this  object- 
ive conception  of  God  as  The  All ;  not  as  a  ghost,  spirit,  or 
spook,  outside  of  the  universe,  but  as  reality  itself,  infinite 
and  eternal.  We  have  thus  the  scientifically  revised  defi- 
nition :  God  is  the  world,  infinite,  eternal,  and  unchange- 
able in  its  being  and  in  its  laws,  but  ever  varying  in  its  cor- 
relations. 

Goethe,  by  true  and  grand  expressions  of  divine  and  cos- 
mic emotion,  raised  aloft  as  the  true  revelation  of  God  the 
monistic  concept  which  has  been  worked  out  by  the  modern 
objective  sciences  still  in  their  glorious  career  of  progress. 

The  next  great  fruitful  religious  development  of  our 
time  seems  to  come  from  the  Latin  race  through  the  word 
of  Comte,  that  the  true  Christ  is  Humanity  itself. 

"  Between  man  and  the  world  there  lies,  and  there  is  need 
of,  humanity";  this  can  not  be  repeated  too  often.  The 
organic  action  of  society  is  the  foundation  of  all  social  and 
individual  progress. 

Only  by  this  mediator  and  saviour.  Humanity,  is  there 
any  real  hope  or  salvation  for  the  individual.  Only  by  this 
Son  of  Man  and  of  God  can  we  come  unto  the  Father — the 


48  Prof.  Ernst  Haechel. 

divine  universe.  Herbert  Spencer,  though  often  dissenting 
from  M.  Oomte's  ideas,  bases  his  own  best  work  npon  his 
sociological  principles.  Notice,  for  instance,  his  splendid 
demonstration  of  the  organic  nature  of  society  and  history 
in  his  Sociology,  and  his  often-repeated  proof  that  the  "  in- 
nate ideas "  are  the  results  of  race-inheritance  instead  of 
individual  experience.  In  all  such  cases  he  is  following  the 
line  of  the  great  inspirations  of  our  day,  which  are  based 
upon  the  continuity  and  solidarity  of  mankind.  Our  great 
American  patriots  and  orators  from  the  Eevolution  to  Lin- 
coln, and  especially  in  the  grander  orations  of  Daniel  Web- 
ster, have  these  fundamental  ideas  and  sentiments  as  their 
inspiration.  The  generations  past  and  to  come  underlie, 
sustain,  and  consecrate  every  appeal  to  duty  and  patriotism. 

Thus,  as  the  conception  of  the  Christ  as  a  man,  under  evo- 
lutional criticism,  vanishes  from  history,  the  ideal  Messiah^ 
which  gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  there  Avas  once  such  a 
man,  has  become  incarnated  in  the  history  and  fact  of  the 
evolution  of  the  race  itself,  revealing  it  as  our  ever-living 
Saviour. 

Tlie  next  person  of  the  old  religious  Trinity  is  no  longer 
the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  holy  life  of  man,  in  which  we  all 
partake,  and  which  is  the  most  precious  thing  in  the  Avorld 
— human  life !  Its  co-operative  altruistic  power  is  our  true 
Bustainer  and  "  comforter." 

The  "  Holy  Mother  "  of  the  Roman  faith  is  enlarged,  as 
in  the  concluding  line  of  Faust,  into  the  "  Eternal-woman- 
ly "  that  leads  humanity  ever  upward  and  on.  In  a  word, 
she  is  ^Yomanhood — continuous,  replacing,  sustaining,  glori- 
fied as  "  Maiden,  Mother,  Queen,  and  Goddess." 

21ie  ii'ue  Bible  is  no  longer  those  old  Hebrew  and  Greek 
documents,  strangely  bound  together  as  one  book  ;  but  the 
books,  good  and  true,  of  the  whole  Avorld  and  of  all  time. 

llie  Creed  is  not  any  number  of  Church  Articles,  but  the 
conclusions  of  science,  ever  being  revised,  and  exi)ressed  in 
a  positive  philosophy  as  the  best  description  of  the  know- 
uble  world. 

Of  the  Heavens  and  Hells,  "  the  places  that  knew  them 
once  now  know  them  no  more."  But  in  the  misery  and 
ioy,  the  remorse  and  blessedness  of  the  human  hearts  they 
have  tbcir  now  location  ;  and  between  them  stands  every 
day  as  the  Day  of  Jadyment. 

There  is  scarcely  a  name,  symbol,  or  line  of  the  old  faiths 
which  can  not  be  thus  found  to  be  replaced  and  enlarged 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecTcel.  49 

by  the  new  and  true  view  of  the  world  and  of  human  life 
and  destiny. 

There  is  no  time  nor  need  to  continue  further  here  these 
old  religious  names,  once  believed  in  as  facts,  and  which  now 
are  of  value  only  as  symbols  of  the  grander  truths  since 
evolved,  but  which  they,  if  still  used,  may  esi3ress.  How  to 
thus  translate  them,  these  hints  only  must  suffice.  The 
illusions  dejDart,  the  truths  remain  ! 

When  the  old  religions  fall,  what  will  you  give  in  their 
place  ?  We  answer.  Religion !  Look  around  !  The  en- 
chanted castle  of  existence  of  the  past  was  but  a  half-seen, 
discolored  prophecy  of  the  truth  which  is  rejilacing  it,  with 
a  grandeur  and  a  reality  that  terrifies  the  soul  at  first.  Peo- 
ple are  frightened  when  science  tells  them  that  this  world 
is  the  real  one,  and  "  the  other  "  its  shadow.  But  this  true 
world  includes  all — is  The  All !  It  brings  with  it  a  new  phi- 
losophy, religion,  morality,  life,  and  motive,  which  is  an  en- 
during well-spring  of  energy,  consolation,  and  hoj^e — not  of 
pessimism  nor  optimism,  but  of  ever- victorious  meliorism. 

Do  not  as  an  ethical  society  fear  that  the  old  moral  lights 
will  be  blown  out  and  darkness  result.  The  true  scientific 
foundation  will  replace  the  old,  as  in  our  cities  the  scientific 
electric  light  has  come  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  smoky 
lamps.  To  secure  such  replacement,  throughout  the  whole 
individual  and  social  domain  of  human  afl'airs,  is  the  motive 
and  inspiration  of  those  scientists  who,  in  Euroj^e  and  Amer- 
ica, put  their  conclusions  before  the  people  in  the  simplest 
language,  yet  ever  eloquent  with  these  new  purposes  and 
hopes.  Of  the  noblest  of  such  teachers  and  prophets  none 
stands  forth  more  prominently  than  Ernst  Haeckel.  From 
his  concluding  words  at  tliat  Munich  contest  rings  out  the 
motto  which,  in  a  word,  expresses  the  impidse  of  his  own 
life,  and  of  the  creative  era  of  the  new  faith  of  Monism  : 
Imjyavidi progrediamur  !  "Undaunted  we  press  ever  on  ! " 
But  in  this  motto  we  can  not  escape  the  echo  of  a  verse  of 
Goethe's  magnificent  "  Symbol  "  of  the  progress  of  man — 
progress  between  "the  great  silences"  of  the  stars  and  the 
grave — a  poem  which  Carlyle  has  called,  and  made  im- 
mortal to  us  as,  the  deepest,  grandest  word  of  our  time  : 

Die  Zukunft  docket  The  future  hides 

Schmerzen  und  Gliioke.  Sorrows  and  gladness. 

Schrittweis  dein  Blicke,  Stepwise  to  the  sight, 

Doch  nngcschrecket,  Yet  undaunted,  . 

Dringen  wir  vorwarts  1  We  press  ever  on  I 


\ 

50  Prof.  Ernst  Haechel. 


ABSTRACT  OF  THE  DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Nelson  J.  Gates  : 

The  intelligent  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Prof.  Haeckel.  It 
is  due  to  his  labors,  mainly,  that  the  doctrine  of  evolution  is  now  as  well 
established  as  Kepler's  laws  of  the  motions  of  the  planetary  bodies,  or 
Newton's  law  of  gravitation.  No  careful  student  of  modern  scientific 
thought  now  doubts  that  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  prevails  through- 
out all  phenomena,  whether  physical  or  mental.  Every  effect  is  the 
exact  product  of  antecedent  causes.  Thought  is  as  much  the  product 
of  the  conditions  under  which  it  arises  as  is  the  formation  of  a  crystal 
or  the  growth  of  a  tree.  There  is  no  room  for  supernatural  interfer- 
ence anywhere.  Though  the  natural  evolution  of  living  forms  out  of 
non-living  matter  has  not  been  demonstrated  as  a  fact  of  present  oc- 
currence, there  is  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  consistent  evolutionists 
that  the  most  primitive  organisms  were  originally  produced  by  spon- 
taneous generation.  Prof.  Ilaeckel's  investigations  in  embryology 
constitute  a  most  important  confirmation  of  the  Darwinian  theory, 
and  entitle  him  to  be  placed  in  the  front  rank  of  experimental 
scientists. 

Prof.  P.  H.  Van  der  Wetde  : 

Dr.  Vander  Weyde  exhibited  a  series  of  drawings  enlarged  from 
plates  contain(>d  in  the  works  of  Prof.  Ilaeckcl,  illustrative  of  human 
evolution.  The  lowest  form  of  mankind  was  shown  to  bo  scarcely  as 
intelligent  in  appearance  as  the  higher  apes,  and  the  brain  capacity  of 
the  lowest  races  was  but  little  superior  to  that  of  the  highest  non- 
human  mammals.  lie  also  explained,  by  the  aid  of  a  map,  Prof. 
Ilaeckers  theory  as  to  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  human 
race.  Dr.  Van  der  Weyde  saw  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  all 
living  things,  including  man,  were  developed  from  eternally  existing 
mattcr^>ii]y  the  matter  itself  must  have  been  living  matter,  not  dead 
and  inert,  as  was  formerly  believed. 

Dr.  Robert  G.  Eccles  : 

Mr.  Wakoman  wliolly  misunderstands  Mr.  Spencer's  position  as  to 
the  nature  of.  mind  or  consciousness.  Mr.  Spencer  does  not  regard 
consciousness  as  an  entity,  but  as  a  phenomenal  process.    Mr.  Wake- 


Prof.  Ernst  HaecTcel.  51 

man's  position  respecting  consciousness  as  a  temporary  phase  of  being, 
causally  correlated  with  brain  changes,  positively  implies  the  miracle 
of  creation  and  opposes  the  doctrine  of  natural  evolution.  The  physi- 
cal facts  of  extension,  motion,  and  time  involved  in  the  molecular  or 
functional  activities  of  the  brain  can  by  no  possible  conjuring  be  con- 
ceived of  in  terms  of  consciousness.  Between  the  two  series  of  pro- 
cesses there  is  an  impassable  gulf  in  thought.  No  thinkable  arrange- 
ments of  the  former  can  enable  us  to  conceive  the  latter  as  being 
caused  thereby.  An  unthinkable  proposition  is  a  false  proposition,  if 
we  can  place  any  reliance  on  i-eason.  He  wants  us  to  believe  that 
when  matter  and  motion  are  properly  arranged  together  in  the  brain, 
and  played  upon  by  the  changes  of  the  external  world,  by  some 
"  presto,  change  "  process,  we  get  mind  ;  and  yet  he  holds  that  neither 
matter  nor  motion  contains  any  distinctly  psychic  elements  when  apart 
or  combined  in  any  other  manner  than  in  the  brain.  His  statement  is 
exactly  equivalent  to  saying  that  by  certain  arrangements  of  the  parti- 
cles of  two  mountains  they  could  be  set  side  by  side  without  a  valley 
between.  We  know  that  Nature  changes  her  form  incessantly,  but  we 
have  no  evidence  that  she  ever  creates  anything  new.  The  substance, 
time,  space,  motion,  and  consciousness  of  things  may  assume  endless 
guises,  but  we  have  no  reason  for  supposing  an  increase  or  diminution 
in  quantity  of  either.  Modes  of  consciousness,  like  modes  of  motion, 
may  change,  but  both,  so  far  as  we  know,  persist  everlastingly  in  some 
form ;  at  least,  such  is  the  logical  conclusion  of  the  evolutionist. 
When  Mr.  Wakeman  tells  us  that  there  is  no  room  anywhere  in  the 
universe  for  a  god  or  a  sisook,  he  arrogantly  assumes  knowledge 
which  man  neither  does  nor  ever  can  possess.  What  can  a  finit 
creature  with  finite  knowledge  ever  know  about  the  possibilities  of  the 
infinite  ?  Has  he  grasped  every  fact  of  nature  to  enable  liim  to  tell 
whether  his  stupendous  assumption  does  or  does  not  agree  with  them  ? 
A  more  modest  man  might  make  his  statement  as  a  mere  unverified 
belief,  for  which  he  alone  is  responsible,  but  to  put  it  forward  as 
established  truth  is  preposterous.  We  know  nothing  of  the  universe 
as  it  exists  ai)art  from  our  own  consciousness,  which  i.-:  finite  and  lim- 
ited in  its  modes  of  activity.  Our  knowledge  is  necessarily  limited  to 
the  narrow  range  of  our  experience.  What  we  know,  therefore,  is  in 
ourselves.  Wo  can  know  the  external  universe  only  symbolically. 
As  well  might  the  eyeless  worm  try  to  picture  the  world  as  we  see  it, 
as  we  to  picture  the  actual  totality  of  conditions  of  the  Universal  Being 
in  which  we  are  incessantly  enveloped. 


52  Prof.  Ernst  HaecM. 

Dr.  Lewis  Gr.  Janes  : 

Evolution  has  a  very  broad  back.    It  can  carry  all  sorts  of  theories 
of  the  universe,  and  not  break  down  under  the  load.    Our  biographical 
lectures  have  at  least  been  successful  In  demonstrating  that  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution  can  be  held  in  connection  with  a  great  variety  of 
theological  and  anti-theological  speculations.    Yet,  when  any  complete 
philosophical  statement  of  the  doctrine  is  attempted,  we  find,  I  think, 
substantial  agreement  in  fundamental  principles.    Darwin,  as  has  been 
said,  did  not  assume  to  have  any  consistent,  well-ordered  explanation 
of  the  general  philosophy  of  evolution.    He  appeared  to  incline  at  one 
time  to  theistic,  at  another  to  materialistic  views  of  the  world,  yet  he 
named  Herbert  Spencer  "our  greatest  philosopher,"  and  did  not  ex- 
pressly dissent  from  his  main  doctrines.     Asa  Gray  was  a  pronounced 
thci<  who  did  not  regard  the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  inconsistent 
with  his  Presbyterian  profession  of  faith.    Wallace  is  a  spiritualist, 
and  Prof.  Haeckel  a  monist,  but  not  more  of  one,  as  I  understand 
it,  than  Darwin  or  Spencer.    The  doctrine  of  evolution  is  unquestion- 
ably  indebted  to  Prof.  Haeckel  more  than  to  any  living  biological 
investigator  for  an  immense  and  orderly  array  of  facts  in  its  support. 
He  has  also  contributed  something  of  value  to  its  broader  field  of 
philosophical  thought.     Mr.  Wakeman's  interpretation  of  Haeckel's 
monistic  philosophy,  however,  to  my  mind,  is  not  entirely  correct  or 
adequate     It  is  not,  as  I  understand  it  from  his  writings,  inconsistent 
with  the  recognition  of  the  psychological  principle  of  the  relativity  of 
our  knowledge,  on  which  rests  Herbert  Spencer's  doctrine  of  the  un- 
knowablc.      On  the  contrary,  it  expressly  recognizes  this  principle. 
Prof.  Haeckel  clearly  states  the  doctrine  of   relativity  in  ""nierous 
passages  in  his  writings.    In  his  History  of  Creation  he  says:     ^ 
nowhere  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  first  causes.  ...  In  explammg  the 
most  simple  physical  or  chemical  phenomena,  as  the  falling  of  a  stone, 
or  the  formation  of  chemical  combinations,  we  arrive  ...  at  other 
remoter  phenomena  which  are  in  themselves  mysterious.    This  arises 
from  the  limitation  or  relativity  of  our  powers  of  understanding.    We 
must  not  forget  that  human  knowledge  is  absolutely  limited,  and  pos- 
*   sesscsonlya  relative  extension.    It  is,  in  its  essence,  limited  by  Uie 
very  nature  of  our  senses  and  of  our  brains."     He  also  evidently  be- 
lieves that  life  is  no  mere  by-play  of  nature,  as  Mr.  Wakoman  has 
rcprcscnlod  it  to  be,  but  a  constant  and  eternal  ingredient  m  the  uni- 
verse    He  speaks  of  "  the  animating  of  all  matter,  the  inseparability 
of  mental  power  and  corporeal  substance."     He  quotes  approvingly 
Goethe's  assertion  tiiat  "  matter  can  never  exist  and  be  active  without 
mind  nor  can  mind  without  matter."    With  Mr.  Spencer  he  recognizes 


Prof.  Ernst  Haechel.  53 

mind  and  matter  as  the  eternally  related  but  opposing  sides  of  one 
substantial  reality.  He  calls  his  philosophy  a  "  mechanical "  philosophy, 
it  is  true — using  this  term,  as  I  understand  him,  in  common  with  a 
school  of  European  thinkers,  to  indicate  the  universality  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  causation — of  what  we  term  "  law,"  as  opposed  to  chance, 
caprice,  or  miracle.  In  this  respect,  too,  he  is  in  entire  agreement  with 
Mr.  Spencer.  The  doctrine  of  the  unknowable  docs  not  imply  any 
interference  with  the  causal  correlation  of  jihenomena.  It  does  not 
open  the  door,  as  Mr.  Wakeman  has  implied,  to  the  primitive  ghost  or 
"  spook "  idea.  Prof.  Haeckel's  views  are  not,  in  the  old-fashioned 
"metaphysical"  terminology,  materialistic,  any  more  than  are  Mr. 
Spencer's.  In  his  reply  to  Prof.  Virchow  he  says :  "  All  human 
^  knowledge  as  such  is  subjective."  He  declares  gravitation  a  mere 
hypothesis,  and  says :  "  All  the  conceptions  which  we  possess  of  the 
chemical  structure  and  affinities  of  matter  are  subjective  hypotheses, 
mere  conceptions  as  to  the  positions  and  changes  of  position  of  the 
various  atoms,  whose  very  existence  is  incapable  of  proof."  It  would 
be  easier  to  construct  a  system  of  idealism  on  such  foundation  prin- 
ciples than  a  materialistic  system.  Both  Herbert  Spencer  and  John 
Fiske,  the  ablest  exponents  of  the  philosophy  of  evolution  in  England 
and  America,  have  expressly  disclaimed  the  alleged  materialistic  im- 
plications of  this  philosophy.  Neither  mind  nor  matter,  according  to 
Mr.  Spencer,  is  a  substance  or  "  thing  in  itself  " ;  both  are  phenomenal, 
symbolically  representative  of  one  unknowable  reality.  The  Spenceri- 
an  philosophy  is  a  monistic  system,  based  upon  this  unknowable  reality. 
The  proof  that  this  reality  is  unknowable,  in  its  essential  nature,  is  not 
metaphysical,  but  purely  scientific,  depending  as  it  does  upon  the  sci- 
entific demonstration  of  the  nature  and  limitations  of  our  modes  of 
sense-perception.  The  pictures  which  we  form  of  the  external  world 
are  simply  synthetized  symbols  of  the  psycho-physiological  sensations 
which  we  derive  from  contact  with  it.  As  the  symbols  are  constant, 
however,  we  recognize  the  order  of  nature  as  steadfast,  we  accept  it  as 
a  real,  objective  fact,  which  corresponds  with  our  symbolical  conceptions. 
The  world,  therefore,  is  not  an  illusion ;  our  knowledge  is  a  real,  though 
representative  and  symbolical,  knowledge  of  real  objective  relations. 

Mil.  Wakeman,  in  reply  : 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Gates  for  his  very  concise,  clear,  and  able 
statement  of  the  general  conclusion  set  forth  in  my  lecture,  and  which, 
I  believe,  will  in  time  become  the  conviction  of  all  who  carefully  think 
and  investigate. 

I  am  also  under  deep  obligations  to  Prof.  Vander  Weyde  for  his  kind 
and  sustaining  words,  as  often  I  have  been  during  many  years  of  pleas- 


54  Prof.  Ernst  Haechel. 

ant  and  helpful  intercourse  with  him  in  matters  of  science  and  reform. 
We  all  recognize  in  him  a  worthy  representative— may  we  not  almost 
say,  in  view  of  his  advanced  years,  survivor  ?— successor,  certainly,  of 
Iluygens  and  the  great  physicists  and  discoverers,  who  have  made  his 
native  Holland  glorious  as  the  nursery  and  home  of  science  and  liberty. 
liis  remarks  this  evening  have  not  only  been  in  the  line  of  ray  lecture, 
but  his  charts  and  drawings  have  made  evolution  visible  to  the  eye  and 
mind  at  once,  and  so  have  done  what  no  lecture  otherwise  could. 

But  what  shall  I  say  of  my  two  opposing  critics,  Dr.  Eccles  and  Dr. 
Janes  f  Fortunately,  by  taking  the  last  first,  they  help  to  explain  the 
lecture,  and  to  extinguish  each  other. 

Dr.  Janes,  for  instance,  well  confirms  all  I  said  about  the  great  va- 
riety of  limited  and  incomplete  evolutionists  ;  and  he  joins  with  me  in  ' 
placing  Prof.  Haeckel  in  the  front  rank  as  a  naturalist  and  philosopher. 
That  the  lecture  was  "  inadequate  "  may  be  true,  for  the  whole  of  a 
new  system  of  philosophy  and  religion  could  hardly  be  adequately  pre- 
sented in  one  lecture,  and  I  claim  to  deserve  well  of  you  that  I  did  not 
further  try  to  insert  in  it  the  •'  whole  world  and  the  rest  of  mankind.'' 

Whether  wliat  I  did  insert  is  -'correct"  or  not  must  not  be  left  to 
critics  prepossessed  by  opposite  views,  but  to  an  impartial  view  of  the 
wliole  field.  I  was  trying  to  see  how  the  science,  philosophy,  and  re- 
ligion of  positive  monism,  or  monistic  positivism — either  will  do— could 
be  held  iij  its  extreme  and  most  thorough  statement,  and  without  re- 
gard to  captious  and  verbal  objections  which  could  be  picked  out  of 
Haeckel  or  any  master.  I  am  familiar  with  all  those  clauses  the  doctor 
has  cited,  and  thiid<  they  amount  to  nothing  but  the  using  of  Ilaeckel's 
words  in  an  anti-monistic  sense.  For  instance,  ho  invokes  "  The  Rela- 
tivity of  Knowledge."  Yes,  certainly ;  but  relative  to  what  f  Why, 
as  the  rest  of  the  sentence  shows,  "to  our  senses  and  brains,"  the 
human  mind ;  as  all  monists  say :  but  not  at  all  to  any  "  unknowable 
entity."  Then  the  doctor  mistakenly  makes  me  say  that  life  or  con- 
sciousness is  a  "  by-play  of  nature."  No  expression  could  be  more 
anti-monistic.  Nature,  as  Goethe  and  Haeckel  tcacli,  has  no  by-plays 
nor  inside  nor  out.  Life,  mind,  and  the  Ego  are  the  outilowcring  cor- 
relate and  glory  of  all  nature,  and  no  by-play  at  all !  But  for  that 
very  reason  they  can  not  be  a  constant,  universal,  eternal  "  ingredient " 
in  nature- any  more  tlian  the  flower  and  fragnince  of  the  plant  are 
-  ingredients  in  its  roots,  or  the  earth  out  of  which  it  grows.  Of  course, 
we  also  say:  "  Mental  power  and  corporeal  substance  are  inseparable." 
But  this  substance  is  no  unknowable  entity  or  spook,  but  the  prior 
correlations  from  which  mental  action  is  the  caused  and  causal  se- 
quence. 
The  doctor  then  makes  a  fog  by  confounding  what  Goethe,  Haeckel, 


Prof.  Ernst  Haechel,  55 

and  other  poets  and  philosophers  have  said  about  matter  being  "  alive." 
This  he  does  by  overlooking  the  distinction  between  the  spontaneous 
motion,  or  "  life,"  of  inorganic  matter,  and  the  vital  and  psychic  life 
found  only  in  organized  matter — i.  e.,  protoplasm.  Goethe,  Haeckel, 
Carus,  and  the  rest  of  them  are  constantly  comparing  these  very  dis- 
parate processes ;  but  no  one  now,  with  a  bit  of  sense  left,  ever  really 
confounds  them.  They  are  compared  for  poetic  purposes,  as  Goethe 
does  artistically  and  avowedly,  or  for  pseudo-religious  purposes,  as 
some  modern  theological  "  apologists  "  do.  Dr.  Carus  (Fundamental 
Problems,  pp.  Ill,  114, 128, 130,  etc.)  thus  states  the  proper  distinction, 
made  by  common  sense  every  time  :  "  We  must  well  distinguish  this 
kind  of  life  in  a  broader  sense  (which  is  an  inherent  quality  of  matter) 
from  the  vegetable  and  animal  organisms.  The  former  is  elementary 
and  eternal ;  the  latter  is  complex  and  unstable,  because  produced  by 
a  combination  of  the  former.  Spontaneity  is  an  inherent  quality  in 
all  matter,  and  if  spontaneously  moving  bodies  have  to  be  called 
'alive,'  we  must  acknowledge  that  nature  throughout  is  alive,  .  .  . 
The  word  life,  however,  as  commonly  understood,  is  applied  to  or- 
ganized life  only.  .  .  .  The  essential  difference  is  the  absence  of  or- 
ganic growth  and  psychic  life  in  one,  and  its  presence  in  the  other.'' 
Then  he  speaks  of  "  all  organized  and  psychic  life  as  evolved  from 
the  general  life  of  the  universe,"  and  he  adds  that  a  "  psychic  life,  con- 
sidered as  foreign  to  our  world,"  is  the  "  corner-stone  of  dualism." 

This  is  the  monistic  view,  and  Dr.  Carus  expressly  states  in  The 
Open  Court  of  March  13,  1890,  after  a  personal  interview  with  Prof. 
Ilaeckel  at  Jena,  that  this  professor  agrees  with  this  version  of  monism, 
and  not  with  agnosticism  at  all.* 

Now,  all  this  is  stated  by  monists  to  refute  and  rule  out  "  the  un- 
knowable, substantial,  inscrutable  reality  "  which  Dr.  Janes  gives  us 
from  Mr.  Spencer,  and  which  on  one  side,  Spencer  and  he  say,  gives  us 
matter,  and,  on  the  other  side,  mind.  But  as  correlation  does  the 
whole  business,  whence  comes  this  fifth  wheel,  "  inscrutable,"  and  what 
for  ?  And  being  inscrutable,  how  do  we  know  that  it  has  sides  and 
gives  us  matter  or  mind  or  anything  else  ?    It  can  not  be  the  correlate 

*  Dr.  Paul  Carus,  in  The  Open  Court  of  March  13,  1800.  says :  "  Prof.  Ernst 
Haeckel  is  apain  and  again  erroneously  quoted  as  an  authority  in  support  of  ag- 
nosticism. When  I  visited  him  in  .Jena  last  summer  he  very  warmly  expressed 
his  s.ymiiathj-  with  the  attitude  of  Tlie  Open  Court  for  tal<in}j  such  a  decided  and 
unmistakable  stand  against  the  if/norahimvs  (we  can  not  know)  of  agnosticism. 
He  called  my  attention  in  this  connection  to  his  own  controversies  with  Virchow 
and  Du  Rois-Reymond  (especially  Freie  Wissenschaft  imd  Freie  Lehre)." 

The  first  number  of  The  Open  Court,  page  17,  contains  the  following  quotation 
from  Haeckel  without  reference  : 

"  I  believe  that  my  monistic  convictions  agree  in  all  essential  points  with  that 
natural  philosoph.v  which  in  England  is  represented  as  agnosticism.  ..." 

Prof.  Haeckel  declared  that  he  did  not  remember  ever  having  written  a  sen- 
tence to  tliat  purport,  and  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  something  wrong 
about  the  quotation. 


56  Prof.  Ernst  Hae'ckel. 

of  anything ;  for  then  it  would  be,  as  such,  knowable.  Can  we  not 
see  that  "  unknowability  "  is  not  a  thing,  but  an  adjective  word,  simply 
descriptive  of  our  ignorance,  and  exists  nowhere  but  in  our  minds ; 
when,  therefore,  it  is  applied  to  the  objective  world  it  is  a  misty  an- 
thropomorphism ;  and  as  the  basis  of  a  philosophy  an  intellectual  fog 
plainly  derived  from  theology  ? 

Therefore  the  positivists— as,  for  instance,  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison 
in  the  Religious  Discussions  with  Mr.  Spencer— cleared  Comte  from 
this  fog,  and  all  the  monists  and  clear  objective  scientists  have  done 
the  same.  That  was  "  the  parting  of  the  ways  "  between  them  and  the 
Spencerians,  and  there  is  no  danger  of  those  ways  ever  uniting  again, 
for  they  all  see  that  the  Spencerian  philosophy  as  "  a  monistic  sys- 
tem, hosed  upon  this  unknowable  reality,"  as  Dr.  Janes  repeats  it,  is  a 
hopeless  duality.  The  limitations  of  our  faculties  are  modestly  ac- 
knowledged, but  they  in  no  wise  prove  that  the  law  of  correlation  has 
an  exception  or  a  limit,  much  less  that  it  ends  in  ^an  entical  "  Un- 
knowable," or  leaves  room  for  that,  or  for  any  one  of  the  countless 
varieties  of  spooks  which  have  led  up  to  that  pseudo-idea.  But  those 
limitations  do  prove  that  all  our  knowledge  is  "relative"  to  our- 
selves, and  "subjective  and  hypothetical,"  as  the  doctor  states,  and 
that  "atoms"  are  not  only  "hypothetical,"  but  extremely  dubious,  as 
he  quotes  from  Prof.  Haeckel,  doubtless  for  the  enlightenment  of  our 
atomic  friend.  Dr.  Eccles,  who  often  in  these  lectures  trots  out  those 
submicroscopic  spooks,  as  though  they  were  realities. 

These  remarks  clear  up  Dr.  Janes's  quotations,  and  do  much  also  to 
relieve  the  terror  which  the  thunder  of  Dr.  Eccles's  adjectives,  so  for- 
midable, but  unnecessary,  might  otherwise  inspire.     Certainly,  I  have 
not  (as  he  says)  misunderstood  Mr.  Spencer.    I  have  used  the  very 
words  quoted  and  used  by  Dr.  Janes,  and  which  are  taken  from  the 
close  of  Mr.  Spencer's  First  Principles,  his  Psychology  (pp.  200,  504, 
627   and  469,  475,  487,  third  English  edition),  and  his  own  articles 
printed  in  his  Discussion  with  Mr.  Harrison.    Certainly  Spencer  says 
mind  is  a  "phenomenal  process,"  is  "co-rolatcd  with  nerve  changes," 
but  not  causally  correlated  with  them  and  the  world,  l)ut  "  flows,"  as 
do  "  all  tilings,"  from  the  "  infinite  eternal  unknowable  energy."    Not 
a  friend  or  opponent  of  Mr.  Spencer  fails  to  understand  this  posi- 
tion.    As  a  friend,  :\rr.  Fiske  gives  us  from  it  The  Unseen  World 
and  The  Idea  of  God,  and  Mr.  Harrison,  as  an  opponent,  makes  this 
whole  unknowable  energy,  power,  substance,  and   entity  religiously 
absurd ;  but  neitlicr  misunderstand  him  nor  it ;  nor  do  T,  or  you,  or 
Dr.  Eccles.    We  all  take  what  Mr.  Spencer  says  in  this  regard  for 
what  we  think  it  is  worth.    There  is  no  misunderstanding,  but  a  dif- 
ference as  to  facts,  judgment,  and  conclusions.    Whether  the  mind  is 


Prof,  E^ist  Haeckel.  57 

merely  attendantly  co-related,  or  causally  correlated,  or  how  related 
to  or  with  this  Unknowable,  must,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer,  be  forever 
unknown,  because  it  by  this  explanation  becomes  an  unknowable  "  por- 
tion "  of  this  unknowable.  Therefrom  Mr.  Spencer  informs  us  that 
it  "  flows,"  but  Mr.  Fiske  says  it  "  wells  up."  We  give  it  up !  Science, 
philosophy,  religion,  have  no  refuge  before  this  entical  explanation 
except  the  old  awe,  terror,  or  horror  of  the  old  superstition  and  devil 
worship.  The  theologs,  mediums,  and  "  medicine  men  "  very  naturally 
resume  their  ghost  dance  before  this  unknowable  spook  back  of  their 
knowable  world,  which  is  always  their  god.  How  different  are  all 
such  feelings  from  the  healthy,  rational,  sustaining,  scientific,  cosmic- 
emotion  excited  by  Goethe  and  the  monistic  theory  of  The  All,  the 
world,  as  a  possibly  knowable,  an  ever-correlated  and  an  ever-causal 
cosmos  of  law  and  order  !  Kead,  for  instance,  Goethe's  poem  Inherit- 
ance, to  which  I  have  referred. 

The  doctor  next  tries  to  misappropriate  the  law  of  correlation  so  as 
to  exclude  mind,  because  we  can  not  "  think  "  how  its  previous  condi- 
tions and  correlates  actually  make  it,  and  so  he  thinks  that  as  an  in- 
dependent entity  it  "  may  persist  everlastingly  in  some  form."  Well ! 
what  correlations  are  thinkable  ?  We  have  answered.  None  !  I  have 
pointed  out,  for  instance,  how  the  will  can  not  think  how  it  comes,  and 
so  it  is  seemingly  free.  We  learn  by  science  to  gradually  think  out 
and  know  correlations,  like  the  rainbow,  music,  or  our  thoughts,  until 
we  can  oversee,  but  probably  never  can  exactly  grasp,  each  detail  of  the 
wonderful  complexity.  To  grasp  the  law  is  the  triumph  of  science ! 
But  how  can  a  scientist,  a  correlationist,  like  Dr.  Eccles,  talk  of  mind 
as  not  a  correlate  of  the  correlated  world,  and  j-et  as  "  persisting  ever- 
lastingly," and  so  consequently  flitting  about  forever  as  persisting  and 
yet  in  "  Erehwon  "  (Nowhere),  and  not  see  the  absurdity  of  the  situa- 
tion ■?  In  a  universe  of  solid  correlation,  where  is  the  "  needless  point " 
left  for  his  uncorrelated  spook  ? 

If,  as  he  says,  I  am  "  arrogant "  and  "  preposterous  "  because  I  can 
not  appreciate  this  position  except  as  an  absurdity,  remember  that  I 
am  not  alone.  The  whole  school  of  scientific  psychologists  from  Bain 
and  Mill  and  Maudsley  down  to  the  last  work  of  Prof.  James,*  of  Har- 

*  In  justice  to  Prof.  James,  as  he  has  been  twice  quoted  by  Mr.  Wakeman  in 
Bupport  of  hi3  views,  ho  should  be  briefly  heard  in  explanation  of  his  own  posi- 
tion. In  a  note  to  Dr.  Janes  he  says  :  •'Empiricallv,  evervtliint?  points  to  braiu- 
activities  as  being  conditions  of  our  thoughts.  There  is  thus  a  'correlation'  in 
the  sense  of  invariable  antecedence  or  concomitance,  which  must  be  written 
down  as  a  scientific  law.  Such  a  law  of  concomitance  says  nothing  of  deeper 
relations  of  causation,  identity,  etc.;  nor,  in  scientific  exactness,  can  we  sav  any- 
thing rational  about  the  relation  of  brain  to  thought.  If  we  remain  positiVistic, 
we  will  write  down  the  correlation  and  preteiul  to  no  further  knowledge.  We 
can  t  help  postulating,  however,  that  there  is  furtlier  matter  to  be  knon-n.  .  .  . 
Everything  points  to  some  sort  of  idealism.  But  the  question  of  immortalitv 
doesn  t  seem  to  be  soluble  either  by  science  or  philosophy  ;  it  is  a  teleological 


58  Prof.  Ernst^JIaeckel. 

vard  UniA^ersity,  to  say  nothing  of  the  distinguished  positivists,  sci- 
entists, and  monists  I  have  already  named — all  deserve  the  same  "  pre- 
posterous" epithets.  But  why  are  such  epithets  used?  Evidently 
they  are  inspired  in  our  otherwise  gracious  friend  by  his  unfortunate 
belief  in  "  the  unknowable  " — the  very  same  unscientific  faith  which 
placed  more  than  burning  words  around  Bruno  and  Servetus.  Does 
not  this  lapse  and  the  tendency  of  that  faith  also  show  that  Mr.  Harri- 
son was  right  in  his  contention  that  the  friends  of  science  and  human- 
ity have  no  more  pressing  duty  than  the  exorcism  of  this  last  of  the 
unknowable  spooks  irom  a  haunted  world  % 

hope,  wliich,  if  the  world  have  a  teleological  constitution,  may  have  prophetic 
value." 


A  LIBRARY 

OF    THE     MOST     IMPORTANT 

STANDARD  WORKS  ON  EVOLUTION. 


1. 

Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the  Preser. 

vation  of  Favored  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.     By  Charles  Dar. 

WIN,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.      New  and   revised   edition,  with  Additions. 

12mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

"Personally  and  practically  exercised  in  zoology,  in  minute  anatomy,  in 
geology,  a  student  of  geographical  distribution,  not  in  maps  and  in  mu- 
seums, but  by  long  voyages  and  laborious  collection ;  havmg  largely  ad- 
vanced each  of  these  branches  of  science,  and  having  spent  many  years  in 
gathering  and  sifting  materials  for  his  present  -work,  the  store  of  accurately- 
registered  facts  upon  which  the  author  of  the  '  Origin  of  Species '  is  able  to 
draw  at  will  is  prodigious."— iVq/essor  T.  H.  Huxley. 

II. 

Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication.    By 

Charles  Darwin,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.     With  Dlustratioua.     Revised  edi- 
tion.    2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $5.00. 

"We  shall  learn  something  of  the  laws  of  inheritance,  of  the  effects  of 
crossing  different  breeds,  and'on  that  sterility  which  often  supervenes  when 
organic  beings  are  removed  from  their  natural  conditions  of  life,  and  like- 
wise when  they  are  too  closely  interbred." — From  the  Introduction. 

III. 

Descent  of  Man,  and  Selection  in  Relation  to  Sex.  By  Charlks 
Darwin,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  With  many  Illustrations.  A  new  edition. 
12mo.     Cloth,  $3.00. 

"  In  these  volumes  Mr.  Darwin  has  brought  forward  all  the  facts  and 
arguments  which  science  has  to  offer  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  that  man  has 
arisen  by  gradual  development  from  the  lowest  point  of  animal  life.  Asido 
from  the  logical  purpose  which  Mr.  Darwin  had  in  view,  his  work  is  an 
original  and  fascinating  contribution  to  the  most  interesting  portion  of  nat- 
ural history." 

IV. 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  ;  or,  The  Causes  of  the  Phenomena  of  Or- 
ganic Nature.  By  Professor  T.  n.  UcxLEY,  F.  R.  S.  12mo.  Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  Those  who  disencumber  Darwinism  of  its  difScuUies,  simplify  its  state- 
ments,  relieve  it  of  technicalities,  and  bring  it  so  distinctly  witlmi  the  hori- 
zon of  ordinary  apprehension  that  persons  of  common  sense  may  jutlge  for 
themselves,  pcrlbrm  an  invaluable  service.  Such  is  the  character  of  the 
present  volume." — Fram  the  Preface  to  the  American  edUion. 

V. 

Darwiniana.  F^says  and  Reviews  pertaining  to  Darwinism.  By  As4 
Gray,  Fisher  Professor  of  Natural  Ilistory  (Botany)  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity.    12mo.    Cloth,  $2.00. 

"  Although  Professor  Grav  is  widely  known  in  the  world  of  science  for 
liis  botttniculreseatvhos,  but  few  are  awaro  that  ho  is  a  pronounced  and  nn- 


A  STANDARD  EVOLUTION  LIBRARY. 


flinchincr  Darwinian.  His  contributions  to  the  discussion  are  varied  and 
valuable"  and  as  collected  in  the  present  volume  thev  wUl  be  seen  to  estab- 
lish a  claim  upon  the  thinking  world,  which  will  be  extensively  felt  and 
cordially  acknowledged.  These  papers  not  only  illustrate  the  history  of 
the  controversy,  and  the  progress  of  the  discussion,  but  they  form  perhaps 
the  fullest  and  most  trustworthv  exposition  of  what  is  to  be  properly  under- 
stood by  'Darwinism'  that  is  "to  be  found  in  our  language.  To  all  those 
timid  souls  who  are  worried  about  the  progress  of  science,  and  the  danger 
that  it  will  subvert  the  foundations  of  thefr  faith,  we  recommend  the  dis- 
passionate perusal  of  this  voliune."— TAe  Popular  Science  Monthly. 

VI. 
Heredity :  A  Psychological  Study  of  its  Phenomena,  Laws,  Causes,  and 

Consequences.    From  the  French  of  Tn.  Ribot.    12mo.    Cloth,  $2.00. 

"  Heredity  is  that  biological  law  by  which  all  beings  endowed  with  life 
tend  to  repeat  themselves  in  their  descendants ;  it  is  for  the  species  what 
personal  iclcntity  is  for  the  individual.  The  physiological  side  of  this  subject 
has  been  diligentlv  studied,  but  not  so  its  psychological  side.  We  propose 
to  supply  this  deficiency  in   the  present  work."— /ron^  the  Introduction. 

VII. 
Hereditary    Geniws:    An  Inquiry  into  its  Laws  and  Consequences. 

By  Francis  Galton,  F.  R.  S.,  etc.     New  and  revised  edition,  with  an 

American  Preface.  12mo.  Cloth,  $2.00. 
"  The  following  pages  embody  the  result  of  the  first  vigorous  and  me- 
thodical effort  to  treat  the  question  in  the  true  scientific  spirit,  and  place 
it  upon  the  proper  inductive  basis.  Mr.  Galton  proves,  by  overwhelming 
evidence,  that  genius,  talent,  or  whatever  we  term  great  mental  capacity, 
follows  the  law  of  organic  transmission— runs  in  families,  and  is  an  afifair  of 
blood  and  breed  ;  and  that  a  sphere  of  phenomena  hitherto  deemed  capri- 
cious and  defiant  of  rule  is,  nevertheless,  within  the  operation  of  ascertam- 
ablc  law."— i^^'om  the  American  Preface. 

VIII. 
The  Eyolntion  of  Man.      A  Popular  Exposition  of  the  Principal 
Points  of  Human  Ontogeny  and  Phylogeny.     From  the  German  of 
Ernst  Haeckel,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Jena,     With  numer- 
ous Hlustrations.     2  vols.,  12mo.     Cloth,  $6.00. 

"In  this  excellent  translation  of  Professor  Ilaeckel's  work,  the  English 
reader  lias  access  to  the  latest  doctrines  of  the  Continental  school  of  evolu- 
tion, in  its  application  to  the  history  of  man." 

IX. 
The  History  of  Creation  ;  or,  the  Development  of  the  Earth' and  its 
Inhabitants  by  the  Action  of  Natural  Causes.  A  Popular  Exposition 
of  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution  in  General,  and  of  that  of  Darwin,  Goe- 
the, and  Lamarck  in  Particular.  Dy  Ernst  IIakckkl,  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Jena.  Tlic  translation  revised  by  Professor  E.  Ray 
Lankeptkr.  Illustrated  with  Lithographic  Plates.  2  vols.,  12mo. 
Cloth,  $5.00. 

"  The  book  has  been  translated  into  several  languages.  I  hope  that  it 
may  also  find  sympathy  in  tlie  fatheriand  of  Darwin,  tlie  more  so  since  it 
contains  speeiarniorpliological  evidence  in  favor  of  many  of  the  most  impor- 
tMit  doctrmr-K  with  wliioli  this  greatest  naturalist  of  our  century  has  enriched 
ocicuce." — From,  the  IWifacc. 


A  STANDARD  EVOLUTION  LIBRARY. 


X. 
leligion  and  Science,     A  Series  of  Sunday  Lectures  on  the  Rlatione 
of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  or  the  Truths  revealed  in  Nature 
and  Scripture.     By  Joseph  Le  Conte,  LL.  D.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.60. 

XI. 

Prehistoric  Times,  as  illustrated  by  Ancient  Remains  and 
the  Manners  and  Customs  of  Modern  Savages.  By  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  Bart.  Illustrated.  Entirely  new  revised  edition.  8va 
Cloth,  $5.00. 

The  hook  ranks  among  the  noblest  -works  of  the  interesting  and  impor- 
tant class  to  which  it  belongs.  As  a  resume  of  our  present  knowledge  of 
prehistoric  man,  it  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  It  is  not  only  a  good  Dook 
of  reference,  but  the  best  on  the  subject. 

XII. 
Winners  in  Life's  Race  ;  or,  The  Great  Backboned  Family.    By  Ara- 
bella B.  Buckley,  author  of   "  The  Fairy-Land  of   Science "  and 
"  Life  and  her  Children."     With   numerous   Illustrations.      12mo. 
Cloth,  gilt  side  and  back,  $1.50. 

XIII. 
Physics  and  Politics ;  or,  Thoughts  on  the  Application  of  the  Prin' 
ciples  of  "  Natural  Selection  "  and  "  Inheritance  "  to  Political  Society. 
By  Walter  Bagehot.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

XIV. 

The  Theory  of  Descent  and  Darwinism.  By. Professor  Oscab 
Schmidt.     With  26  Woodcuts.     12mo.     $1.50. 

"  The  facts  upon  which  the  Darwinian  theory  is  based  are  presented  in 
an  effective  manner,  conclusions  are  ably  defended,  and  the  question  is 
treated  in  more  compact  and  available  style  than  in  any  other  work  on  tho 
Bame  topic  that  has  yet  appeared.  It  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  '  Interna- 
tional Scientific  Series.'  " — Boston,  Post. 

XV. 

Outline  of  the  Erolution  Philosophy.  By  Dr.  M.  E.  Gazelles. 
Translated  from  the  French,  by  the  Rev.  0.  B.  Frothingham  ;  with  an 
Appendix,  by  E.  L.  Yocmans,  M.  D.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  This  unpretentious  little  work  will,  no  doubt,  be  used  by  thousands  to 
whom  the  publications  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  are  inaccessible  and  those  of 
Auguste  Comte  repellent,  by  reason  of  their  prolmty  and  vagueness.  In  a 
short  space  Dr.  Gazelles  has  managed  to  compress  "the  whole  outline  and 
6cope  of  Mr.  Spencer's  system,  with  his  views  of  the  doctrine  of  progress 
and  law  of  evolution,  and  a  clear  view  of  tho  principles  of  positivisni." — 
JVaiure  {London). 

XVI. 

Principles  of  Gcolosry ;  or,  The  Modern  Changes  of  the  Earth  and 
its  Inhabitants,  considered  as  illustratiw;  of  Geology.  By  Sir  Charles 
Lykll,  Bart.  Illustrated  with  Maps,  Plates,  and  Woodcuts.  A  nwT 
and  entirely  revised  edition.  2  vols.  Royal  Svo.  Cloth,  $8.00. 
The  "  Principles  of  Geoloj^y"  may  be  looked  upon  with  pride,  not  only 
as  a  representative  of  EngUsn  science,  but  as  without  a  rival  of  its  kind 
aaywhero.     GrowiiUj-  in  fullnea?  and  acwuracy  witii  the  grouth  of  exT'cri- 


A  STANDARD  EVOLUTION  LIBRARY. 

ence  and  observation  in  every  region  of  the  world,  the  work  lias  ibcorporated 
with  itself  each  established 'discovery,  and  has  been  modified  by  every  hy- 
pothesis of  value  which  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon,  or  been  evolved 
from,  the  most  recent  body  of  facts. 

XVII. 
Elements  of  Geology.     A  Text-Book  for  Colleges  and  for  the  General 
Reader.      By  Joseph   Le  Conte,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of   Geology  and 
Natural   History  in  the  University  of  California.     Revised  and  en- 
larged edition.    12mo.  With  upward  of  900  Illustrations.   Cloth,  $4.00. 

XVIII. 

ETolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religions  Tlionglit.  By  Joseph 
Le  Conte,  LL.  D.     Illustrated.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

XIX. 

The  Origin  of  the  Fittest:  Essays  on  Evolution.  By  Professor 
E.  D.  Cope,  Member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.  Illus- 
trated.    8vo.     Cloth,  $3.00. 

XX. 

Animal  Life,  as  affected  by  the  Natural  Conditions  of  Exist- 
ence. By  Karl  Semper,  Professor  of  the  University  of  Wiirzburg. 
With  Maps  and  100  Woodcuts.     12mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

XXI. 

Anthropology  :  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Man  and  Civilization. 

By  Edward  B.  Tylor,  F.  R.  S.     Illustrated.     12uio.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

xxn. 
First  Principles.     By  Herbert  Spencer.    Part  I.  The  Unknowable. 
Part  II.  The  Knowable.     1  vol.,  12mo.     $2.00.  , 

XXIII.       ' 

The  Principles  of  Biology.    By  Herbert  Spencer.    2  vols.,  12mo. 

$4.00. 

XXIV. 

The  Principles  of  Psychology.  By  Herbert  Spencer.  2  vols., 
12mo.     $4.00. 

XXV. 

The  Principles  of  Sociology.  By  Herbert  Spencer.  12mo. 
2  vols.     $4.00. 

XXVI. 

The  Data  of  Ethics.  By  Herbert  Spencer.  Being  Part  I,  Vol.  I, 
of  "  The  Principles  of  Morality."     12mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

xxvn. 

Illustrations  of  Universal  Progress.  By  Herbert  Spencer. 
12mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


BROOKLYN 
ETHICAL  ASSOCIATION 


EVOLUTION    ESSAYS 
XIV. 


Ten   Cents 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EVOLUTION 


BY 

STARR    IIOYT    NICHOLS 
Author  of  "Monte  IIosa,  or  the  Epic  ok  ax  Alp,  — A  Poem." 


BOSTON  : 

THE   NEW    IDEAL   rUBLISIIING   COMPANY 

ESTE.S  Pre.ss  KriLniNT.,  102  Scmmer  St. 

1S81> 


COLLATERAL    READINGS    SUGGESTED 
IN   CONNECTION    WITH    f:SSAY    XIV. 

Spencer's  First  Prinriplps  and  Psycholo(jy ;  Fiske's  Cosmic 
Philoftoph]/  /Thompson's  System  of  Psychology  ;  Martineau's  Types 
of  Etiilriil  Theory  ;  Peirin's  lielUjion  of  Pliilosoi)fiy  ;  Abbot's  Sci- 
entific Theism ;  E.  D.  Cope's  Oriyin  of  the  Fittest,  and  Evolution 
and  Idealism,  (in  Open  Court,  No.  23);  Stallo's  General  Principles 
of  the  Philosophy  of  Nature,  and  Concepts  and  Theories  of  Modern 
Physics;  hiiWiis^s  iristory  of  Philoso}>hy ;  Huxley's  Lay  Sermons 
and  Critiques  and  Addresses ;  Winchell's  Speculative  Consequences 
of  Evolution  ;  Comte's  Positive  Philusophy  ;  Writinys  of  Frederic 
Harrison. 


THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    EVOLUTION.* 


The  Evolutionary  Philosophy  is  the  latest  born  of  time. 
Not  that  it  has  been  undreamed  of  in  the  cogitations  of 
naturalists  and  speculators  from  ancient  days,  but  that  as  a 
credible  and  established  system  its  currency  is  very  recent. 
Its  acceptance  may  be  said  to  date  from  after  the  publica- 
tion of  <'The  Origin  of  Species"  by  Charles  Darwin,  in 
1859.  And  though  it  now  assumes  the  air  of  a  philosophy 
in  rank  with  the  oldest  and  most  honored  systems,  yet  is  it 
in  no  way  descended  from  any  former  system  of  philosophy, 
nor  even  in  its  origin  does  it  show  relationship  to  them.  It 
was  not  born  of  their  stock  nor  connected  in  their  lineage. 
It  has  not  the  blood  of  their  ancestors  in  its  veins.  It  is 
rather  a  gypsy  philosophy,  born  of  nature  under  the  hedges. 
It  comes  not  of  thought,  but  of  fact ;  not  of  spirit,  but  of 
flesh,  riato  had  no  glimpse  of  it,  and  Aristotle  would  have 
regarded  it  not  as  philosophy  proper,  but  rather  as  a  kind 
of  mechanic  generalization  having  no  claim  to  place  beside 
metaphysics  and  ethics.  It  is  not  derived  from  the  new 
Platonists,  nor  from  the  scholastic  philosophizing  of  the 
church  and  the  INIiddle  Ages.  It  has  no  derivation  from 
Kant,  though  Kant,  outside  of  his  "  Pure  Reason,"  stretched 
hands  towards  it;  nor  from  Spinoza  Avitli  his  technical  and 
tedious  demonstrations ;  nor  from  Descartes  with  his  tauto- 
logical cogito,  ergo  sum  ;  nor  from  Hegel  with  his  vast  um- 
brage of  logical  sequences ;  nor  did  Hobbes  or  John  Locke, 
or  tlie  Scotch  psychologists,  or  Hume  or  Sir  William  Ham- 
ilton, nor  even  d'Holbach  with  his  system  of  Nature,  nor 
Auguste  Comte  in  his  Positive  Philosophy,  ever  get  well 
upon  tlie  track  of  the  doctrine  and  philosophy  of  Evolution 
as  we  know  and  hold  it  to-day. 

Rather  did  it  make  its  entrance  into  the  world  from 
quite  another  parentage  than  that  of  the  so-called  philoso- 
phers of  the  old  schools.  For,  while  they  were  dreaming 
and  arguing,  other  men  were  examining  and  proving  the 
things  of  the  material  world  about  them ;  and  so  it  came  to 
pass  that  Lamarck  the  botanist,  and  Laplace  the  astrouomer, 

*  CorvuiouT,  1880,  by  The  Xew  Ideal  l^iblishiug  Co. 


344  TJie  Fliilosophy  of  Evolution. 

and  Draper  the  physiologist,  had  perception  of  the  truth 
which  all  the  grand  metaphysicians  in  their  reasonings  had 
clearly  missed. 

Of  this  fatherhood,  the  Evolutionary  Philosophy  got  its 
geniture ;  and  being  itself  an  evolution  not  from  Philoso- 
phy so-called  at  all,  but  from  Science,  it  unexpectedly  grew 
to  be  a  philosophy,  to  the  signal  discomfiture  of  all  the 
previous  professors  of  that  lofty  pursuit.  And  being  thus, 
basely  born  it  manifests  the  difference  of  its  origin  and 
blood  by  turning  its  hand  against  all  of  the  ancient  sys- 
tems, itself  a  reckless  Ishmaelite  outside  of  the  old  Israel, 
accusing  them  of  being  false  pretenders  to  knowledge  and 
claimants  of  wisdom  which  they  never  possessed.  For  there 
is  no  philosophy  hitherto  so-called  whose  dicta  it  does  not 
bring  in  question  and  whose  conclusion  it  does  not  put  on 
trial  for  its  life. 

Now  the  Evolutionary  philosophy  in  its  simplicity  is. 
merely  a  statement  of  what  we  see  about  us  on  all  sides 
and  at  all  times.  As  a  philosopher  the  Evolutionist  looks 
about  him  and  sees  that  the  universe  of  to-day  is  the  result 
of  the  universe  of  yesterday,  as  yesterday  was  the  result  of 
the  day  before  that;  and  argues  that  all  our  yesterdays 
were  in  like  manner  the  products  of  the  days  preceding 
them.  And  so  he  reasons,  in  like  manner,  that  all  to- 
morrows Avill  be  the  product  of  their  predecessors,  with 
never  an  alteration  in  the  everlasting  procession.  And  then, 
widening  his  view,  he  declares  that  the  method  of  the  uni- 
verse always  has  been  and  always  will  be  exactly  the  same 
as  we  see  it  about  us,  one  thing  changing  into  another  by  a 
restless  and  unintermittent  procedure  of  which  he  can  dis- 
cover no  beginning,  nor  the  chance  of  any  end. 

This  is  saying,  in  effect,  that  this  present  world  is  a 
sample  of  the  whole  universe,  and  this  present  time  a  sam- 
ple of  all  eternity ;  that  our  ])resent  knowledge  is  the  same 
in  kind  with  all  the  knowledge  that  ever  was  or  ever  will 
be,  to  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time.  Here  and  now  we 
have  all  there  is  of  everything,  at  least  in  outline,  and  though 
many  tilings  will  be  discovered  in  the  future  which  are  be- 
yond our  ken  at  present,  yet  will  all  future  discoveries  be 
of  the  same  general  nature  with  what  we  know  to-day- 
They  will  be  part  and  parcel  of  the  evolution  of  nature, 
along  lines  of  cause  and  effect  such  as  are  familiar  to  every 
one  now  from  his  early  years. 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  345 

This  position  is  the  same  in  philosophy  with  that  of 
Lyell  in  Geology,  which  has  reclaimed  Geology  from  a  dream- 
land of  cataclysm  and  monstrosities  to  a  world  of  sane  and 
familiar  forces,  whose  effects  we  know  and  can  study  in 
actual  experience.  It  is  the  same  position  as  that  secured 
by  Newton  in  astronomy,  when,  by  discovering  the  law  of 
gravitation,  he  dismissed  the  angels  of  all  the  planets,  once 
supposed  to  guide  their  revolutions  round  the  sun,  and  sub- 
stituted instead  a  calculable  law  sufficing  for  every  emer- 
gency. And  the  position  rests  upon  the  principle  which  gov- 
erns all  reasonable  thinking,  of  which  the  law  is  to  study 
the  known  and  from  it  to  learn  what  is  likely  to  be  the 
nature  of  the  unknown,  on  the  ground  that  the  universe  is 
all  of  one  piece  and  one  order,  and  that  there  is  no  call  for 
any  other  order  or  law  but  only  for  the  one,  and  that  one 
the  one  we  already  know.  And  the  Evolutionary  Philoso- 
phy therefore  insists  that  the  more  one  studies  the  method 
of  the  world  about  him  —  the  present  and  living  facts  of 
existence — the  more  sure  is  he  to  judge  aright  of  the  whole 
universe  and  to  be  able  to  conceive  the  farthest  range  and 
scope  of  its  most  distant  possibilities.  It  looks  down  with 
light  scorn  upon  the  assertions  and  propositions  of  those 
who  philosophize  upon  possible  worlds  with  no  detailed 
comprehension  of  this  world,  who  assert  unverifiable  propo- 
sitions of  many  sorts  without  having  mastered  verifiable 
propositions  enough  to  steady  their  minds  and  give  poise  to 
their  judgment. 

Now  this  assertion  of  the  scheme  of  the  universe  as  re- 
sembling in  its  utmost  reach  what  is  known  of  this  world  here 
and  now,  is  based  upon  no  less  a  matter  than  the  complete 
testimony  of  all  the  studies  which  men  have  been  able  to 
make  and  verify  respecting  things  everywhere.  All  the 
sciences  have  been  consulted  in  the  formulation  of  the 
dogma.  Astronomy,  geology,  botany,  zoology,  embryology, 
the  utmost  discoverable  antiquity  of  the  past,  the  widest 
diversity  of  the  ])resent,  things  most  alien  and  separate, 
things  of  the  largest  and  those  most  minute,  the  secrets  of 
chemical  action,  the  farthest  flight  of  comet  and  star,  the 
viewless  behavior  of  unseen  atoms  and  the  movements  of 
invisible  forces,  all  have  been  taken  into  council  and  made 
to  bear  their  witness.  Nor  has  the  verdict  been  rendered 
till  each  one  had  spoken  and  given  his  free  word ;  and  there 
is  no  dissenting  voice  among  all  of  them.     The  doctrine  of 


346  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

Evolution  is  simply  the  widest  generalization  of  all  facts, 
gathered  from  remotest  orbs  as  well  as  from  the  gases  about 
us  and  the  grasses  beneath  our  feet.  It  is  a  declaration  of 
the  procedure  of  the  present  from  the  past,  of  the  future 
from  the  present,  the  statement  of  belief  that  this  was 
always  so  and  always  will  be  so,  and  that  the  universe  is 
complete  and  self-regulating  under  the  control  of  this  prin- 
ciple. 

Being  thus  a  generalization  from  natural  facts,  the  Phil- 
osophy of  Evolution  does  not  need  to  borrow  weapons  from 
old  reasoners  or  books  of  the  past.  It  asks  nothing  of 
nominalist  or  idealist ;  it  shows  scant  respect  for  metaphy- 
sician or  logician.  It  has  little  to  say  to  the  old  disj)utants 
about  "coffito,  errjo  sum,''^  or  the  essence  of  being,  or  the 
thing  in  itself,  or  the  ontological  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
God.  When  reading  the  metaphysical  philosophers,  one  is 
fain  to  be  persuaded  that  important  interests  for  humanity 
are  bound  up  in  their  conclusions ;  but  Evolution  brings 
one  to  his  sober  senses  and  discloses  the  habit  of  trifling 
which  metaphysical  studies  give  to  minds  devoted  to  them. 
As  an  example,  consider  how  many  hours  good  minds  have 
wasted  over  Kant's  "Critique  of  Pure  Reason,"  with  its 
fruitless  propositions.  What  is  the  use  of  reasoning  as  to 
whether  space  and  time  have  only  formal  existence  or  also 
real  existence,  excepting  as  an  exercise  of  ingenuity  ?  It 
is  a  pretty  piece  of  chess-playing,  perhaps.  And  all  his 
learned  discussions  as  to  how  a  priori  judgments  are  pos- 
sible—  as  if  there  were  any  such  reasonable  judgments  — 
and  the  like,  are  they  aught  but  mere  excursions  of  curi- 
osity, worthy  of  attention  only  from  t^ose  who  have  no 
serious  pursuits  ?  Evolution,  not  having  been  rocked  in 
the  metaphysical  cradle,  gives  cool  recognition  of  these  and 
similar  studies.  It  merely  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
either  side  of  their  questions  has  no  material  proof,  and 
therefore  lacks  in  the  first  condition  of  a  verifiable  propo- 
sition. 

The  wide  difference  of  methods  existing  between  the 
Metaphysical  and  Evolutionary  Philoso])hies  is  seen  nowhere 
more  forcibly  than  in  the  systems  for  discovering  truth  em- 
])l<)yed  l)y  the  Transcendentalist,  Hegel,  and  the  Naturalist, 
JJarwin,  respectively.  Both  were  men  of  extraordinary  in- 
tellect, of  great  industry,  of  pertinacious  devotion  to  their 
ideas,  of  wide  range  of  investigation,  and  comprehensive 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  347 

statement.  But  Hegel  sat  down  in  his  study  and  gave  his 
days  and  nights  to  profound  reflections  on  abstract  Being, 
and  the  course  of  nature  as  a  course  of  thought.  He  then 
developed  a  series  of  abstract,  verbally  logical  sequences, 
on  whose  lines  he  affirmed  the  universe  to  have  been  laid 
down,  and  expounded  them  with  awful  toil  and  subtlety. 
His  main  principle  of  the  identity  of  contradictions  proved 
as  barren  as  other  metaphysical  discoveries.  The  reasoning 
was  cogent,  the  proof  by  definition  (if  definition  could  ever 
prove  anything)  was  convincing,  but  still  nothing  ever  could 
grow  from  it  all.  Verbal  propositions  can  produce  only 
verbal  progress,  and  verbal  progress  is  like  Mr.  Carlyle's 
spavined  horse,  "all  move  and  no  go." 

As  if  to  make  the  futility  of  metaphysical  investigation 
—  even  if  its  principles  were  true  —  the  more  startling, 
Hegel's  dialectic  had  the  advantage  of  being  itself  evolu- 
tionary in  its  form  and  spirit.  One  proposition  springs  out 
of  another  by  a  surprising  derivation,  resembling  a  real 
parentage  and  sonship  as  closely  as  words  can  resemble  the 
facts  of  the  world.  But  it  proved  to  be  valueless  all  the 
same  —  for  thought  can  never  have  the  value  of  things,  ex- 
cept when  it  represents  things  exactly.  It  is  otherwise 
but  a  baseless  fabric  of  vision  —  the  cloud-world  of  the  may- 
be, not  the  land  of  the  real.  One  might  go  on  entertaining 
its  theorems  for  centuries,  as  happened  during  the  ages  of 
scholasticism,  and  not  a  step  forward  for  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind would  be  made  in  consequence. 

Compare  this  whole  i)rocedure  with  that  of  INIr.  Darwin 
in  his  endeavor  to  discover  the  order  of  natiire.  Xot  in 
the  closet,  nor  in  his  own  mind,  did  he  fancy  that  he  could 
find  the  principles  of  the  universe,  but  only  in  nature  her- 
self. To  nature,  therefore,  he  applied  himself,  made  a 
voyage  of  study  round  the  world,  seeking  everywhere  the 
material  facts  and  procedure  of  things,  comparing  and  sift- 
ing verities  with  tireless  industry  and  for  many  years,  until 
his  main  proposition  of  the  transformation  of  species  was 
established.  Then  he  enlarged  his  theory  and  disclosed 
the  everlasting  mutation  of  the  restless  universe,  the  in- 
structive and  fnxitful  law  that  anything  may  become  any- 
thing else  if  its  material  basis  is  proi)erly  liandled.  And 
this  phil'osophy  brought,  at  last,  the  long  fumbling  of  the 
metaphysicians  to  an  end.  Never  again  could  their  endless 
logomachy  interest  sober  minds.     Never  again  could  they 


348  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

maintain  the  supremacy  of  their  industry  or  its  claim  to  be 
most  worthy  of  human  attention.  Their  ghosts  and  hob- 
goblins began  to  scatter  and  fade  in  the  growing  light  of 
the  new  dawn.  The  emptiness  and  muddiness  of  their 
writings  began  to  be  visible  to  their  most  devoted  adherents. 
The  Darwinian  fact  made  the  Hegelian  fancy  look  pale  and 
thin  as  the  formless  air. 

And  this  was  further  elucidated  by  the  wonderful  books 
of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  who  carried  the  evolutionary  doc- 
trine and  its  method  of  investigation  through  all  the  old 
haunts  of  the  metaphysicians,  and  showed  what  mines  of 
knowledge  the  new  method  could  disclose,  full  of  the  silver 
and  gold  of  truth,  where  before  men  had  perished  in  bottom- 
less quicksands  or  quagmires  of  speculation,  For  under 
his  masterly  handling  the  physical  or  physiological  basis  of 
many  an  ancient  doctrine  was  exposed  for  the  first  time, 
and  the  material  truth  of  which  the  metaphysical  dogma  had 
been  the  confused  and  disconnected  statement  was  brought 
to  light  and  set  in  its  due  place  in  an  evolutionary  universe. 
Then  both  the  adherents  and  the  opponents  of  various 
dogmas  Avere  angered  and  dismayed,  to  find  that  their  con- 
tention was  a  chaffering  about  husks  and  shells,  while  the 
kernel  of  the  matter  had  been  claimed  or  known  by  neither. 
What  the  Philosophy  of  Evolution  required  of  the  meta- 
physicians was  real  proof  for  any  of  their  assertions,  and 
this  demand  it  was  which  brought  their  windy  quarrels  to 
quietude.  They  had  no  real  proof,  and  soon  it  became  clear 
that  they  never  could  furnish  any.  They  had  been  furnish- 
ing verbal  proof,  on  both  sides  of  interminable  questions, 
for  centuries,  but  real  proof  in  the  actual  working  of  the 
universe  there  was  none,  and  they  could  therefore  bring 
none  forth.  And  when  Evolution  came  forward,  offering  to 
demonstrate  by  bare  facts  a  multitude  of  propositions  all 
going  to  verify  its  own  main  principle,  no  Avonder  it  arrested 
the  attention  of  all  and  drew  disciples  in  crowds  from  the 
schools  of  the  old  teachers.  For  it  at  least  furnished  a 
standard  of  truth,  which  the  former  had  failed  to  do  after 
ages  of  painful  industry. 

And  the  main  difference  between  Evolution  and  all  preced- 
ing systems  is  perhaps  most  of  all  in  this,  that  its  adherents 
can  verify  their  assertions  by  a  standard  of  proof,  whereas 
the  metaphysicians  are  still  unable  to  do  so,  as  they  have 
no  standard,  and  therefore  every  man  says  that  which  is 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  349 

right  in  his  own  eyes.  The  evolutionist  appeals  to  fact, 
the  metaphysician  to  thought,  with  the  advantage  to  the 
first  that  the  fact  remains  while  the  thought  perpetually 
changes. 

A  special  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  this  Evolution- 
ary appeal  is  seen  in  its  application  to  those  fanatics  of 
wilfulness  and  hap-hazard,  the  Intuitionalists.  These 
thinkers,  of  whom  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  is  the  anointed 
high-priest  and  oracle,  were  disporting  themselves  like  dol- 
phins in  the  high  seas,  amid  what  they  claimed  to  be  high 
themes,  showing  an  originality  and  brilliancy  of  expression 
unrivaled.  So  long  as  they  were  not  called  upon  to  estab- 
lish any  of  their  assertions,  they  were  very  successful,  and 
astonished  the  empyrean  with  the  splendors  of  their  rhet- 
oric and  the  lustre  of  their  paradoxes.  Who  could  surpass 
Mr.  Emerson  in  the  courage  and  kindling  fire  of  his  dis- 
course ?  Who  could  seem  nearer  to  nature  and  the  true 
order  of  natuTe  than  he  ?  He  held  his  audiences  and  read- 
ers enthralled,  as  he  seemed  to  open  to  them  the  loftiest 
heaven  of  thought  and  to  disclose  all  the  secrets  of  spirit 
and  spiritual  worlds.  But  the  arrow  of  evolution,  alas ! 
takes  him  also  in  its  winged  flight, —  him  the  beautiful 
Achilles, —  and  glancing  strikes  the  vulnerable  tendon  of 
his  heel  with  fatal  effect.  For  what  the  Philosophy  of  Evo- 
lution undertook  to  do  was,  as  I  said,  to  prove  its  positions 
with  the  amplest  evidence.  It  would  listen  to  everything, 
but  accept  nothing  without  demonstration.  It  had  no  ears 
for  glittering  generalities.  It  would  have  chapter  and  verse 
from  the  Bible  of  fact  for  any  proposition  which  the  arrested 
Intuitionalist  might  be  inspired  on  his  tripod  to  deliver. 
This  threw  a  coolness  over  the  industry  of  those  venture- 
some and  guileless  thinkers,  which  we  fear  will  deepen  as 
time  goes  on.  For  surely  the  grasshopper-like  flight  of 
their  thoughts  is  calculated  to  bring  them  nowhither.  They 
spring  into  the  air  and  come  down  wherever  God  wills.  But 
Evolution,  as  a  doctrine,  builds  a  solid  causeway  of  proved 
truth  through  the  trembling  swamp  of  human  conjecture 
wherein  they  wander, —  a  causeway  over  which  the  nations 
of  the  future  may  march  to  ever-increasing  power,  wisdom, 
and  happiness,  as  long  as  the  world  may  last. 

The  Positive  Philosophy,  so-called,  of  August  Comte, 
has  something  to  say  to  Evolution,  and  claims  many  of  its 
doctrines  and  benefits  for  its  own.     In  so  far  as  it  induced 


350  The  Fhilosophy  of  Evolution. 

men  to  leave  the  pathless  woods  of  metaphysics  and  myth- 
ology for  the  cleared  land  of  science  it  of  course  deserves 
the  laudation  of  philosophers  ;  but  it  came  far  short  of  dis- 
covering the  fundamental  postulates  of  evolution.  It  was 
itself  metaphysical  and  fragmentary.  It  was  so  little 
familiar  with  the  true  method  of  philosophizing  that  it  at 
last  lauded  its  believers  in  the  paltry  and  time-wasting  cult 
of  its  founder's  mistress,  and  in  a  Eeligion  of  Humanity 
which  is  good  enough  for  an  ideal  but  has  no  roots  in  the 
nature  of  things.  It  elevates  a  sentiment  to  that  throne  of 
authority  which  fact  alone  can  satisfactorily  hll.  Posi- 
tivism played  an  excellent  part  in  its  insistency  that  a 
philosophy  should  deal  with  the  universe  itself  rather  than 
with  various  notions  about  the  universe.  It  deserves  a 
niagmim  cum  laude  for  pointing  out  the  unsatisfactory 
service  rendered  by  metajDhysics.  But  it  was  only  a  door 
to  the  method  of  nature,  and  not  that  method  itself. 

Leaving  now  the  other  systems  to  their  own  intrepid 
adherents,  let  nie  say  that  the  Evolutionary  Philosophy 
seems  to  me  to  be  essentially  materialistic.  It  is  true  that 
its  greatest  apostles,  Spencer  and  Huxley,  and  Mr.  John 
Fiske  as  well,  allege  that  of  the  two  world-old  dilemmas 
between  mind  and  matter,  every  analysis  leads  rather 
to  the  conclusion  that  we  know  the  universe  far  more  as  all 
mind  than  we  do  as  all  matter.  They  do  indeed  deny  that 
we  can  claim  to  know  its  real  nature  at  all,  and  so  sustain 
themselves  in  the  airy  spaces  of  agnosticism,  declaring  the 
existence  of  "an  Unknowable  Reality"  beyond  our  ken. 
Mr.  Spencer  labors  the  point  frequently,  asserting  that 
consciousness  and  reason  alike  fail  to  carry  us  beyond  a 
knowledge  of  relations,  which  never  disclose  the  absolute 
reality.  The  permanent  substratum  of  mental  being,  which 
abides  behind  all  the  changes  of  thought,  and  the  permanent 
substance  in  which  all  the  qualities  of  matter  inhere,  must 
forever  remain  hid  from  us.  liut  if  we  were  to  decide  any- 
tliing  as  to  the  nature  of  the  ultimate  substance,  he  says  we 
should  decide  it  to  be  mental  rather  than  material,  for  con- 
sciousness itself  is  nearer  to  mind  tlian  it  is  to  matter,  so 
far  at  least  as  we  see  it  internally.  All  our  knowledge  is 
declared  to  be  given  in  units  of  feeling  at  last,  and  these 
units  of  feeling  are  mental.  We  seem  thus  to  be  crowded 
back  to  the  old  )netaphysical  basis  for  all  philosophizing  — 
the  i)riuiitive  testimony  of  consciousness.     While  one  may 


The  Philosoj^hy  of  Evolution.  351 

well  pause  before  entering  the  lists  against  Mr.  Spencer, 
yet  one  is  also  daunted  at  finding  himself  planted  on  a 
metaphN'sical  bog  for  the  foundation  of  a  physical  philoso- 
phy, and  therefore  he  may  make  a  shift  to  get  foothold  else- 
where. 

And  perhaps  he  may  find  such  foothold  in  the  position 
that  the  units  of  feeling  seen  in  consciousness  are  really  only 
units  of  force  (which  are  recognized  as  the  ultimate  elements 
of  the  external  world),  seen  under  a  subjective  transfor- 
mation effected  by  nerve-sensibility.  In  confirmation  of 
this  he  may  at  least  jDoint  out  that  knowledge,  so  long  as  it 
was  discussed  as  composed  of  units  of  feeling,  was  sterile 
of  results  and  incapable  of  progress.  Only  Avhen  it  began 
to  be  viewed  as  composed  of  units  of  force  did  it  become 
xiseful  and  open  to  an  endless  development.  As  an  example 
of  this  we  may  cite  the  futile  and  unprogressive  study  of 
the  nature  of  mind  when  conducted  by  the  method  of  in- 
trospection, or  looking  at  one's  feelings,  after  the  manner 
of  philosophers  preceding  the  last  half  century.  ]Much 
was  said  and  written  by  them,  all  to  small  purpose.  Mind 
was  as  little  disclosed  as  matter,  and  of  neither  was  there 
much  real  knowledge.  Introspection  merely  kept  turning 
round  and  round  in  its  own  biishel-basket  at  home.  But 
no  sooner  did  mind  begin  to  be  studied  as  itself  a  form  of 
matter,  as  an  external  object  and  a  part  of  physiology, 
than  light  began  to  appear  and  knowledge  to  advance.  Sig- 
nificant is  it  also,  in  this  connection,  that  Mr.  Spencer's 
luminous  exposition  of  the  composition  of  mind  borrows  its 
lucidity  from  the  author's  constant  recurrence  to  the  phe- 
nomena of  matter  and  material  action.  It  might  indeed  be 
called  an  exposition  of  mind  considered  as  included  in  the 
forces  of  material  nature.  In  other  words,  though  he  in- 
sists upon  mind  as  being  ultimately  composed  of  units  of 
feeling,  he  expounds  it  as  if  it  were  composed  of  units  of 
force. 

And  this  is  in  fact  the  method  to  which  all  men  of  science 
are  driven  at  last.  Though  consciousness  gives  only  feel- 
ing as  its  experience,  and  perception  as  the  result  of  feel- 
ing, and  though  this  be  asserted  to  be  the  internal  and 
primary  testimony  of  consciousness,  yet  no  sooner  is  this 
proposition  laid  down  than  the  barrenness  of  it  begins  to 
be  felt,  and  the  faithful  internal  psychologist  is  immediately 
hurried  forth  to  say  tliat  these  units  of  feeling  appear  also 


352  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

somehow  as  units  of  force  in  other  connections,  and  must 
be  treated  as  such  in  every  use  which  is  made  of  them  in 
verifying  truth  or  discovering  knowledge.  So  that  we  may 
perhaps  embolden  ourselves  at  last  to  question  the  ultimate 
character  of  the  feelings  as  such,  since  each  of  us  has  only 
a  single  witness  to  their  existence,  and  that  is  his  own  con- 
sciousness; and  we  may  rather  regard  these  feelings  as 
merely  a  subjective  or  special  form  of  units  of  force,  just 
as  sound  is  a  special  form  of  units  of  motion.  They  seem 
to  us  at  first  to  be  units  of  feeling  existing  only  in  our- 
selves ;  but  in  everybody  else,  these  same  feelings  can  only 
be  observed  as  units  of  force,  and  the  corrected  statement 
would  therefore  appear  to  be  that  feeling  is  merely  a  trans- 
formed force.  In  other  words,  we  correct  our  internal 
experience  by  the  larger  generalization  of  our  external  ex- 
perience and  arrive  at  a  basis  which  is  at  once  universal 
and  fruitful.  "We  arrive  at  the  true  account  of  our  feelings 
by  an  outside  knowledge  got  through  them,  which,  general- 
ized, shows  that  they  are  but  one  other  form  of  the  univer- 
sal units  of  force.  Here  at  last  we  pass  over  from  a  barren 
introspective  psychology  to  a  fertile  external  universe,  which 
includes  the  introspection  as  one  of  its  countless  manifesta- 
tions. 

Consciousness  is  thus  found  to  be  as  misleading  in  its 
primitive  reports  about  itself,  as  about  most  other  things. 
Eegarded  from  within  it  seems  to  be  what  is  called  a 
spiritual  or  immaterial  faculty,  moving  about  the  spaces 
of  the  brain  with  the  speed  of  light,  and  through  the  senses 
cognizing  the  universe.  So  subtle,  quick,  sure,  lucid  is  it 
that  nothing  less  than  the  attril)utes  of  a  God  are  deemed 
sufticient  to  characterize  its  nature,  and  it  is  said  to  be  ''  made 
in  the  image  of  God."  But  regarded  from  without,  how 
different  is  its  aspect.  This  Godlike  apprehension  is  dis- 
covered to  1)6  absolutely  dependent  on  a  brain  and  various 
congeries  of  nerves,  which  are  mere  material  substances. 
No  brain,  no  consciousness ;  and  this  fine,  internal,  lordly 
self-api)reciation  is  reduced  to  the  modest  character  of  a 
function  of  a  grey  i)nlp,  whioh  the  blow  of  a  hammer  or  a 
failure  of  blo(jd-siipply  can  reduce  in  an  instant  to  complete 
insensibility. 

The  external  observation  thus  corrects  or  even  subverts 
the  internal  testimony.  The  ai)i)arently  immaterial  mind 
is  found  to  hang  upon  the  material  brain  as  the  odor  of  a 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  353 

rose  Langs  to  the  flo-u'er.  Both  are  a  sort  of  exhalation. 
And  the  changes  in  that  brain,  nnder  various  environments, 
embody  the  whole  immense  variety  of  modern  knowledge, 
whose  works  in  the  world  are  but  a  magnified  magic-lantern 
picture  of  slight  alterations  of  grey  brain-matter  within. 
The  solidity  and  certainty  with  which  this  various  knowl- 
edge verifies  itself  in  practice  gives  the  strongest  possible 
proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  premises  from  which  it  all 
springs,  viz.,  that  units  of  consciousness  are  more  properly 
estimated  when  regarded  under  their  corrected  form  as 
imits  of  force,  than  under  their  primary  form  of  units  of 
feeling. 

Perhaps  both  of  these  units  may  be  best  harmonized  in 
one  unity  as  forms  of  motion,  as  most  ably  set  forth  by 
Mr.  Eaymond  S.  Perrin  in  his  book  on  "  The  Eeligion  of 
Philosophy."  Mr.  Perrin's  criticism  of  Mr.  Spencer's  posi- 
tion seems  to  have  striking  validity,  and  to  demolish  the 
necessity  for  supposing  some  "  Unknowable  Reality  "  back 
of  all  knowledge,  on  which  Mr.  Spencer  so  stoiitly  insists. 
Motion,  as  the  dynamical  aspect  of  matter,  seems  to  furnish 
all  the  materials  necessary  to  compose  the  universe.  Matter 
in  motion  becomes  the  fountain  of  all  things,  and  thought 
is  but  brain  in  motion,  as  life  is  but  atoms  in  motion,  and 
knowledge  is  simply  an  active  participation  in  the  infinite 
motion  of  the  universe. 

But  if  one  be  inclined  to  insist  upon  the  testimony  of 
his  own  individual  consciousness,  and  to  posit  mind  as  im- 
'material  because  he  feels  it  to  be  so,  we  can  only  bring  to 
bear  against  him  the  fact  that  in  so  doing  he  plants  himself 
upon  one  single  experience  —  his  own  —  against  all  the 
rest  of  his  knowledge,  which  is  that  of  observation  criti- 
cised in  detail  by  all  that  others  know,  and  the  whole  course 
of  nature  in  its  daily  movement.  It  takes  but  a  moment's 
reflection  to  see  that  this  last  accumulation  of  testimony 
affords  a  basis  for  certainty  of  a  universal  character,  such 
as  never  can  be  afforded  by  the  weak  testimony  of  our 
single  consciousness,  which  is  and  must  always  remain 
isolated  and  alone  to  each  one  of  us.  It  was  dependence  upon 
this  which  led  the  Avorld  of  men  in  a  fire-fl}-  dance  after 
phantoms  through  ages,  and  still  leads  most  tribes.  It  is 
this  which  gives  us  a  Chinese  civilization  in  one  place  and 
a  Hindoo  in  another,  and  Feejis  in  a  third.  It  is  this  which 
gives  us  ten  thousand  sects  and  cranks  of  every  hue.     But 


354  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

a  distrust  of  individual  consciousness,  on  the  other  hand, 
forces  us  to  the  wide  comparisons  of  modern  science,  and 
the  trustworthy  conckisions  on  which  all  instructed  men 
agree.  And  on  this  the  Philosophy  of  Evolution  rests, — 
not  on  what  feeling  says,  but  upon  what  corrected  feeling 
finds  to  be  true  of  the  units  of  force. 

Of  course  this  doctrine  is  downright  materialism;  but 
then  the  doctrine  of  Evolution  seems  to  many  and  probably 
really  is  materialistic  to  the  core.  Nor  need  this  be  deemed 
strange  when  we  recall  that  this  Philosophy  was  first  dis- 
covered in  the  material  world.  It  was  found  among  the 
fowls  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field.  It  was  cradled 
in  the  manger  where  cattle  were  feeding.  It  had  for  its 
nurses  the  naturalists,  and  it  was  brought  up  at  the  hearth- 
stone of  physical  science.  And  its  stronghold  and  play- 
ground is  still  the  material  world.  Because  it  places  suns 
and  planets  in  their  orbits  without  hands,  because  it  arranges 
the  strata  of  the  earth  without  design,  because  it  traces  the 
genesis  of  crystal,  plant,  animal  and  man,  step  by  step 
without  break  and  without  miracle,  it  is  accepted,  and  only 
because  it  does  so.  Were  it  not  for  its  incontestable  fa- 
miliarity with  the  history  and  Avays  of  material  nature,  the 
spiritualists  would  long  ago  have  remanded  it  to  the  dirt 
from  whence  it  sprang.  But  it  holds  to  its  visible  facts, 
snaps  its  fingers  at  metaphysical  disproofs,  and  riots  in  its 
tangible  demonstrations,  now  become  so  profuse  and  all- 
convincing.  It  finds  no  need  for  ratiocination,  for  here  is 
the  daily  process  of  nature  repeating  its  propositions  and 
enforcing  its  ])hiloso])hy  upon  all  men.  And  if  there  is 
any  work  of  God  which  is  his  incontestably,  it  is  this  same 
Nature  which  furnishes  such  proofs  to  Evolution,  and  sus- 
tains its  head  amid  the  querulous  complaints  of  idealists, 
spiritualists  and  dreamers  of  every  feather. 

But  having  been  so  born,  of  materialistic  parentage, 
nursed  by  materialistic  students,  reared  among  materialistic 
studies,  and  crowned  by  materialistic  proofs,  it  seems  hardly 
likely  tluit  it  can  now  be  sustained  in  any  other  than  ma- 
terialistic relations.  Vain  is  it  to  try,  as  some  do,  to  marry 
it  now  into  the  fine  old  family  of  spiritualism*  in  order  to 
give  it  credit  with  minds  still  loyal  to  the  old  opinions,  and 
ready  to  fight  to  the  death  for  the  old  tiag  which  has  flaunted 


•Tlieword  S]>irit\ialifin  is  lien'  ui^cd  to  denote  the  advocacy  of  Spirit  as  aa 
imiuutcrial  bouicwliat,  distinct  from  Matter. 


The  Philosojjh]/  of  Evolution.  355 

over  so  many  desperate  battle-fields  "vrhere  nothiiig  was  won 
but  wounds  and  death.  The  X apoleon  of  a  new  era,  it  can- 
not usefully  mix  its  fresh  blood  with  the  outworn  royal 
Austrian  of  igiiorant  davs. 

And  truly,  that  the  evolutionary  philosophy  is  matenal- 
istic  is,  to  my  mind,  nothing  against  it.  Xor  is  it  that  I 
have  any  special  antipathy  toward  the  opposing  idealistic 
or  spiritualistic  hypothesis.  The  only  interest  I  have  in 
either  depends  simply  upon  their  truth  and  usefulness,  but 
especially  upon  their  usefulness.  I  am  willing  to  receive 
any  benefits  from  any  source,  and  if  sfjiritual  or  idealistic 
philosophies  have  anything  to  give,  I  am  glad  to  avail  my- 
self of  their  help.  But  they  have  held  sway  over  man  for 
ages  without  adding  serious  advantages  to  him.  They  pre- 
vailed in  Christian  countries  to  the  exclusion  of  all  mate- 
rialism up  to  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  seem  to 
have  misused  this  time  greatly.  They  did  not  arrest  war, 
nor  banish  slavery,  nor  diminish  intemperance,  nor  check 
bigotry,  nor  abate  superstition,  nor  prevent  persecution  or 
tyranny.  In  fact,  while  they  were  prevailing  the  world 
dragged  on,  weltering  in  miseries,  the  prey  of  plague,  pesti- 
lence and  famine,  a  coward  before  ghosts  and  fairies,  the 
easy  victim  of  every  natural  accident,  servile  to  kings, 
priests  and  sorcerers,  and  devastated  by  perpetual  fears. 
There  was  small  progress  in  thought,  slow  advance  in  knowl- 
edge, fanciful  standards  of  proof,  little  stability  in  propo- 
sitions, slight  discoveries  in  the  methods  of  Xature.  One 
reads  the  records  of  those  bewildered  and  disputatious  ages 
with  astonishment  that  men  could  ever  have  been  content 
with  such  futilities  and  barrenness.  Spiritualistic  theories 
were  lifting  their  heads  on  all  sides  like  a  ring  of  serpents, 
each  hissinsr  its  contradictions  and  anathemas  at  the  others. 
There  was  little  enough  in  the  results  of  this  devotion  to 
idealistic  fantasies  to  make  one  desire  a  restoration  of  its 
reign. 

How  much  thinking, —  how  little  welfare  I  Would  it 
have  added  any  great  benefit  to  the  world  if  most  of  the 
questions  respecting  the  Trinity,  the  nature  of  the  soul, 
the  nature  of  duty,  the  exact  authority  of  conscience,  the 
nature  of  space  and  time,  or  the  like,  had  ever  been  satis- 
factorily settled  ?  Scarcely  I  for  it  is  of  these  questions, 
pre-eminently,  that  Lessing  s  remark  is  true,  that  the  pur- 
suit of  truth  is  better  than  the  attainment  of  it.     There 


356  The  Fhilosoi^hy  of  Evolution. 

was  and  is  but  little  in  the  questions  excepting  the  value  of 
the  discussion  of  them  as  sharpeners  of  the  intellect, —  the 
same  empty-handed  benefit  which  is  noisily  claimed  for 
the  medieeval  college  curriculum  of  to-day,  on  which  our 
youth  are  still  tediously  trained.  Were  it  not  better  to  have 
done  with  futilities  ?  Why  go  on  whipping  for  trout  in 
streams  long  since  robbed  clean  of  fish  ? 

It  is  therefore  with  impatience  that  one  hears  the  reiter- 
ated lament  of  public  teachers  and  preachers  over  the  ten- 
dencies of  the  age  towards  Evolution  and  its  materialistic 
ideas.  One  would  imagine,  to  listen  to  these  wallers,  that 
there  was  something  blighting  in  materialism;  that  its 
marked  increase  during  the  last  thirty  years  had  been  at- 
tended with  great  injiiries  to  the  human  race.  Whereas, 
if  one  will  only  consider  the  matter  fairly,  this  last  period 
has  seen  more  advance  in  human  well-being  than  all  the 
last  2,000  years  before  it.  Materialism  has  prevailed,  and 
lias  made  a  new  world  out  of  a  sad  and  worn-out  one.  The 
progress  has  been  in  material  forms,  in  railroads  and  tele- 
graphs, in  cotton-gins  and  steam-driven  machineries,  in  an 
immense  increase  of  wealth  and  luxury,  in  books  and  news- 
papers, in  applied  science  and  philosophy,  which  makes 
man  handier,  shrewder,  more  industrious, —  averse  to  Avar, 
tyranny,  superstition,  narrow-mindedness,  gloom,  disorder 
and  poverty. 

If  materialism  has  so  many  advantages  to  confer,  why 
should  we  be  afraid  of  it  ?  Why  should  we  not  rather  be 
afraid  of  that  spiritual  philosophy  wliich  spent  two  tliou- 
sand  years  in  discussing  the  nature  of  God  and  the  soid, 
and  human  destiny  generally,  and  duty  as  an  abstraction, 
leaving  mankind  meanwliile  hungry  and  cold  and  naked, 
the  prey  of  disease,  and  the  prisoner  of  physical  and  moral 
ills  ?  And  what  insistent  and  l)lind  folly  it  is  to  be  warn- 
ing the  age  against  the  dangers  of  a  materialism  whose 
higliest  word  has  proved  to  have  more  good  sense  and  clear 
light  in  it  than  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  best  idealistic 
discussion  that  literature  records,  from  Plato  down  to  James 
Martineau !  Why  go  on  cultivating  the  profitless  sands  of 
Saliara,  when  tlie  hills  and  valleys  of  Materialism  already 
rustle  with  the  corn  and  vines  whose  fruits  are  for  the 
gladdening  of  the  nations  ? 

Even  from  a  spiritualist's   point  of  view  this  material 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  357 

philosophy  is  more  profitable  than  spiritual  methods.  For 
the  spiritualist's  clamor  about  duties  and  high  aims  and 
altruistic  living,  and  the  like,  is  best  met  and  satisfied  by 
materialistic  methods.  It  may  easily  be  shown  that  the 
enormous  intercourse  of  nations  and  continents  produced 
by  modern  commerce  has  done  more  to  promote  these  vir- 
tues of  toleration  and  charity  than  the  apothegms  of  Epic- 
tetus  and  the  sermons  of  Chrysostom.  A  merchant-ship 
bears  more  than  its  cargo  of  meats  or  grains  or  goods ;  it 
bears  also  the  good-will  and  friendly  regard  of  those  Avho 
trade  with  each  other  for  gain.  The  armies  of  the  Chris- 
tian Powers  do  not  so  well  defend  those  Powers  against 
their  enemies  as  do  the  commercial  relations  of  their  sub- 
jects one  with  another.  And  if  the  meddling,  selfish  dynas- 
ties were  abolished,  and  all  custom-houses  as  well,  com- 
merce would,  far  more  than  benevolent  sentiments,  make 
one  peaceful  confederacy  of  German,  Russian,  Frenchman, 
Italian  and  Spaniard,  in  less  than  a  century. 

So  also  the  steam-engine,  by  facilitating  travel,  has  done 
more  to  destroy  bitter  distinction  of  race  and  religion  than 
devotion  to  ideal  questions  could  do  in  aeons  of  time.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  idealistic  discussions  can  touch  but  few, 
being  the  pursuit  of  the  learned;  and  in  the  second  place, 
personal  contact  with  strange  peoples  and  other  religions 
■dissolves  prejudice  as  the  sun  dissolves  dew.  By  reason  of 
travel,  the  false  and  bitter  slanders  of  one  nation  on  another, 
of ^  one  church  on  another,  have  been  disproved  and  de- 
stroyed. 

And  a  similar  moral  benefaction  has  been  conferred  by 
the  mere  multiplication  of  books  and  newspapers  by  the 
material  printing-press.  It  is  not  possible  for  vested 
wrongs,  for  ancient  and  established  ignorances,  to  maintain 
their  places  before  the  merciless  fire  of  the  daily  papers. 
JN"o  artillery  has  such  precision  and  range  as  the  batteries 
■of  the  Hoe  press.  No  adjurations  to  do  justice  and  love 
mercy  have  or  can  have  one-half  the  poAver  to  realize  their 
desire  as  these  engines  of  attack  on  injustice  have  to  compel 
both  to  be  done.  How  many  rogues  have  they  brought  to 
justice,  how  many  crimes  searched  out,  how  many  prevented, 
how  many  good  causes  established !  How  long  could  a  Czar 
maintain  his  Siberian  horrors  under  the  steady  exposure  of 
a  daily  press,  repeating  its  incessant  denunciations  day  by 


358  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

day  within  his  dominions  ?  And  the  press  is  the  child  of 
materialism.  It  prints  its  sheets  for  gain.  In  the  dialect 
of  the  street,  it  is  pushed  to  make  money. 

In  the  uses  of  machinery,  too,  we  may  vaunt  the  praises 
of  materialism  in  its  plainest  aspect.  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold, 
in  his  pleasant  way,  depreciates  our  devotion  to  machinery, 
and  would  rather  have  us  use  the  freedom  of  the  spirit  as 
the  better  method.  And  he  attacks  the  whole  manner  of 
modern  advance,  and  sings  the  praises  of  mere  culture, — 
"hearing  and  reading  the  best  things  there  are  going,"  as 
the  Greeks  of  Plato's  time  are  falsely  supposed  to  have 
been  doing  for  the  most  part.  But  it  is  quite  certain,  to 
anyone  who  has  an  open  eye  to  the  world,  that  machinery 
has  done  more  to  transform  the  world  to  something  like 
Plato's  ideal  Kepublic,  in  one  century,  than  all  the  unme- 
chanical  centuries  for  twenty -two  hundred  years  had  done 
before.  Machineries  of  steel  and  wood  create  machineries 
of  moral  and  spiritual  movement  as  well,  and  furnish  irre- 
sistible agencies  to  promote  public  virtue  such  as  never 
before  existed ;  and  the  more  machinery,  the  wider  spread 
is  virtue.  "Who  ever  heard  of  a  savage  tribe,  without  ma- 
chinery as  they  are,  as  able  to  do  anything  Avorth  doing 
except  for  mischief  and  destruction  ?  ^Ir.  Arnoltl  himself 
remained  but  as  the  '<  wandering  voice "  of  the  cuckoo  in. 
the  glades  of  society,  because  his  ideas  could  not  organize 
a  machinery  for  their  propagation  among  mankind  at  large. 
Material  embodiments  are  more  than  lofty  expressions,  and 
the  church  itself  is  great,  more  by  its  machinery,  than  by 
its  ideas.  A  new  machine  for  traveling  by  telegraph  would 
enlarge  the  human  mind  more  rai)idly  than  all  the  colleges 
and  book-learned  authors  in  Christendom  can  do. 

Machinery  forces  men  to  become  exact,  punctual,  regu- 
larly industrious,  and  sober.  It  compels  them  to  study  the 
properties  of  materials,  to  learn  new  truth  constantly,  and 
conform  themselves  to  it.  Men  become  more  observant 
under  its  tuition.  The  commonest  factory-girl  has  her  dull 
and  aimless  mind  somewhat  quickened  and  focused  by  the 
precision  of  its  work  and  the  exactitude  it  demands  of  her. 
It  turns  the  vagrant  savage  into  a  thoughtful  artisan,  makes 
an  Ericsson,  an  Edison,  a  Bessemer,  an  Eifel,  possible,  and 
is  so  far  from  degrading  men  to  its  level  that  it  raises  them 
immeasurably.  Think  of  saying  that  a  Digger  Indian  is 
degraded  to  the  level  of  a  Corliss  Engine !     The  engine  is 


The  Philosopliy  of  Evolution.  359 

already"  far  liis  superior,  and  worth  more  to  humauit}-. 
Machinery  always  elevates  its  employers. 

See  how  Materialism  also  makes  men  more  truthful  than 
Spiritualism.  When  men  can  be  brought  to  an.  exact  bar, 
and  proved  to  be  false,  they  are  perforce  more  guarded  and 
carefi;l  in  their  statements.  Such  a  tedious  falsehood  as 
that  of  the  Roman  church,  that  bread  and  wine  are  the  true 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  which  has  debased  the  minds  of 
believers  for  ages,  could  not  hold  its  sway  for  an  hour 
under  a  materialistic  philosophy.  Xo  more  could  the  Pla- 
tonic doctrine  that  ideas  have  real  existence  outside  of  the 
brain.  Men  do  not  attempt  to  lie  in  mathematics,  except 
Avhen  they  have  some  spiritual- theory  to  maintain. 

So,  too,  Ave  may  sing  the  praises  of  a  materialistic  philos- 
ophy in  that  it  absorbs  the  energies  of  the  age  in  the  pur- 
suit of  wealth.  Never  before  was  mankind  so  Avell  engaged. 
It  is  better  to  build  passenger  steamers  than  men-of-Avar. 
It  is  better  to  build  factories  tlian  cathedrals.  It  is  better 
to  build  railAvays  than  armories.  It  is  better  to  dcA^elop 
mines  than  to  promote  missions.  Men  are  seldom  or  never 
so  well  engaged  as  in  making  money  decently.  Six  days 
are  not  too  much  for  profitable  labor,  though  one  day  be 
enough  for  Avorship,  even  according  to  Moses. 

Why,  then,  should  we  hear,  from  our  more  spiritual 
friends,  a  great  outcry  against  this  excellent  pursuit  ?  For 
it  is  easily  seen  that,  since  the  world  began,  mankind  Avas 
never  so  well  engaged  in  general  as  it  is  at  the  present 
day.  "  The  mad  race  for  riches  "  leads  to  enterprise,  edu- 
cation, good  health  and  long  life.  It  keeps  men  out  of 
mischief  and  crime,  it  covers  the  earth  Avitli  great  cities 
and  the  water  with  great  ships,  it  spans  the  rivers  Avith 
bridges  and  fills  the  air  with  voices  of  intelligence,  it  makes 
famine  impossible,  and  binds  Avith  fetters  of  self-interest 
the  bloody  Avolves  of  Avar.  AV'liatever  is  good  among  men 
is  largely  the  effect  of  Avealth,  whether  it  is  reckoned  in 
material  goods  or  the  advances  of  charity,  peace,  justice, 
science,  art,  or  jjolitics.  And  the  Avide  difference  between 
our  OAvn  peace-loving  age  and  its  gainful  occupations,  and 
the  quarrelsome  and  destructive  ages  before,  is  chiefly  due 
to  the  fact  that  noAv  men  are  all  seeking  Avealth  througli  in- 
dustry, instead  of  advancing  religion  by  persecution,  or 
patriotism  by  Avar,  or  politics  by  lies  and  force,  or  poAver 
by  intrigues  and  assassinations. 


3&)  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

Friends  of  the  spiritnal  jjhilosophies  who  exhort  us  to 
think  more  of  their  vague  propositions,  and  to  devot*  our- 
selves to  God,  immortality  and  duty,  should  reflect  upon 
the  awful  miseries  which' befell  those  who  formerly  were 
devoted  to  such  pursuits,  neglecting  their  bodies  and  worldly 
interests  the  while,  till  a  horror  of  great  confusion  overtook 
them  like  a  flood,  and  swept  them  down  the  wreck-filled 
current  to  ignorance  and  death.  There  has  never  been  a 
better  age  than  the  present,  since  man  has  written  history ; 
and  the  simple  reason  is  that  man  has  now  become  materi- 
alistic in  his  aims, —  has  turned  from  the  bloodless  spectres 
which  he  formerly  pursued  to  active  care  for  mere  flesh  and 
blood,  to  houses  and  lands  and  inventions  and  enterprises 
and  splendor  and  display,  and  whatever  makes  life  more 
fruitful  and  more  abundant  in  material  goods. 

^Materialism,  which  is  represented  as  a  flood  that  threatens 
to  drown  all  higher  impulses,  proves  to  be  rather  a  Xile- 
inundation,  whose  waters  bear  the  fertilization  of  humanity. 
And  yet  medisevalists  would  have  us  return  to  the  dreary 
pursuits  of  the  spirit,  where  men  wandered  for  centuries 
living  on  manna  and  water ! 

The  opponents  of  Materialism,  in  their  devotion  to  spirit- 
ual philosophies,  display  many  curious  moral  obliquities  cal- 
culated to  impair  a  mere  materialist's  confidence  in  their  prin- 
ciples ;  —  as  where  we  see  them  eager  to  sacrifice  hekatombs 
of  other  men,  and  human  welfare,  to  the  establishment  of 
their  ideal  visions.  Look,  for  instance,  at  the  idealist, 
Tennyson,  who  voices  in  his  "InMemoriam"  the  tenderest 
and  most  reverent  sentiment  of  the  age  respecting  God, 
duty  and  immortality,  and  afterwards  lets  himself  rave,  in 
"  Maud,-'  to  praise  and  glorify  the  multitudes  of  blameless 
youth  slain  in  that  worthless  and  even  then  antiquated  bar- 
barity, the  Crimean  War, — because  "  Gods's  just  wrath  would 
be  wreaked  on  a  giant  liar,"  and  '^a  peace  that  was  full  of 
wrongs  and  shames "  broken  up  in  the  awful  carnage  of 
battle.  As  if  we  should  say  it  is  better  for  men  to  kill 
eadi  other  in  rage  and  hatred  than  to  cheat  each  other  for 
gain.  As  if  murder  was  not  by  far  the  greater  crime!  — 
even  if  one  does  call  it  war  and  treat  it  to  the  luxury  of 
poetry.  Materialism  looks  at  things  quite  differently  and 
does  not  exliort  us  to  begin  killing  men  as  a  better  pursuit 
than  cheating  them.     Materialism  has  its   faults,   but  it 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  361 

seldom   loses  it  head  or  waxes  enthusiastic  over  crimes- 
greater  than  those  it  attempts  to  cure. 

So  much  then,  we  may  say  in  reply  to  those  who  are 
afraid  of  Evolution  because  it  is  a  materialistic  philosophy. 
As  the  immense  body  of  modern  knowledge,  in  all  its  vast, 
variety,  is  knowledge  of  the  properties  and  actions  of 
matter,  it  can  be  safely  left  to  defend  itself.  That  man- 
kind will  ever  leave  it  to  go  back  to  the  groping  leadership 
of  metaphysics  or  the  pursuit  of  the  elusive  mirage  of  so- 
called  spiritual  truth,  there  is  not  the  remotest  possibility. 
Like  the  statue  of  Liberty  in  our  glorious  bay,  the  material- 
istic philosophy  of  Evolution  will  lift  up  its  electric  torch 
over  unnumbered  generations  of  the  future,  scattering  the 
white  light  of  its  all-illuminating  truth  over  land  and  o'er 
sea,  and  over  the  ever  increasing  knowledge  and  happiness- 
of  all  wise  and  free  nations. 


362  The  Fliilosophy  of  Evolution. 


ABSTRACT    OF    THE    DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Ratmoxd  S.  Pereix:  — 

"When  asked  to  criticise  a  lecture  upon  the  Philosophy  of  Evo- 
lution, to  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Starr  H.  Nichols,  I  anticipated,  in 
accepting,  a  pleasure,  because  I  knew  the  lecturer  was  capable  of 
dealing  with  the  subject.  I  knew  that  he  had  familiarized  him- 
self with  the  general  logical  results  of  the  docti-ine  of  universal 
filiation  or  descent,  so  firmly  established  by  the  investigations  of 
Charles  Darwin ;  and  I  knew  also  that  he  had  applied  this  doctrine 
to  the  phenomena  of  mind  or  consciousness,  which  is  pre-eminently 
the  realm  of  Philosophy.  I  must  confess  that  I  have  been  disap- 
pointed. The  lecture  has  closed  without  any  exjilanation  of  the 
nature  of  mind.  The  argument  has  been  confined  to  a  very  inter- 
esting account  of  the  materialistic  theory  of  society.  The  human- 
izing influences  of  modern  industrial  development  have  been 
pointed  out.  We  have  been  shown  how  industrial  progress  pro- 
duces social  progress.  The  lecturer  has  also  emphasized  the  uni- 
versality of  physical  law,  pointing  out  how  it  repeats  its  operations 
with  divine  uniformity  in  all  time  and  space,  bringing  into  inter- 
dependence and  into  fimdamental  similiarity  all  the  systems  of 
the  universe,  and  he  has  declared  boldly  and  distinctly  that  the 
prime  power  in  all  this  is  not  si)iritual  but  material.  We  can  only 
admire  the  courage  of  the  lecturer  in  making  this  assertion,  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  so  unpopular.  The  great  majority  of  relig- 
iously inclined  persons  ai'e  repelled  by  tlie  assertion  that  matter 
can  explain  everything  to  us.  They  feel  instinctively  that  such  a 
philosophy  is  coarse,  that  it  lacks  sublimity,  and  as  philosophy  is 
largely  a  matter  of  definition  I  must  confess  to  a  sympathy  with 
the  religionists  in  their  aversion  to  materialism.  For  matter  is 
not  the  ultimate  fact,  it  is  only  an  aspect,  the  statical  or  restful 
aspect  of  universal  activity,  or  life,  and  if  a  name  must  be  given 
to  tlie  philoso])hy  of  evolution  which  sliall  distinguish  it,  once  for 
all,  from  the  religious  or  supernatural  systems,  I  tliink  that  name 
hliould  be  the  titdl  not  the  materialistic  i)hilosopliy.  For  Life  is 
the  universal  fact,  and  Evolution  teaches  us  that  .all  phenomena, 
wlietlier  physical  or  spiritual,  are  forms  of  life.  This  vital  prin- 
ciple is  not  unknowable,  for  it  is  the  simplest  of  all  experiences  ; 
it  is  tlie  first  element  of  knowledge.  In  mathematics  it  is  called 
motion,  in  pliysics  force,  in  biology  life,  in  psychology  mind,  in 


The  Philosojyhy  of  Evolution.  363 

religion  spirit,  or  intelligence,  or  God.  All  these  diverse  terms 
involve  ultimately  the  union  of  space  and  time  or  of  the  infinite 
and  the  absolute.  The  chief  advantage  of  the  Philosophy  of  Evo- 
lution is  that  it  can  explain  the  connecting  link  between  mind  and 
matter,  by  bringing  into  interdependence  intellectual  and  physical 
phenomena,  by  explaining  the  point  of  contact  between  the  spirit 
and  nature.  This  harmony  of  thought  and  feeling  is  what  the 
religionist  most  longs  to  comprehend,  for  it  alone  can  bring  peace 
to  the  mind,  it  alone  can  dispel  the  contradictions  which  arise 
between  the  belief  in  a  divine  love  and  the  evidence  of  a  suffering 
humanity.  The  ultimate  analysis  which  harmonizes  the  meaning 
of  our  most  general  terms  is  a  logical  fact,  which  appeals  only  to 
a  class  of  specialists,  but  this  analysis,  so  necessary  to  philosophy, 
can  be  explained  in  the  language  of  every-day  life.  There  is  no 
limit  to  its  applications  and  to  its  simplifications,  and  it  will  be 
found  to  be  the  key  to  the  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  In  Language 
we  have  the  connecting  link  between  the  intellectual  and  the  phys- 
ical. Language  is  a  natural  development,  beginning  in  rude  soimds 
and  gestures,  and  progressing  in  perfectly  comprehensible  steps 
from  the  expression  of  concrete  experiences  to  that  of  general 
principles.  In  this  vast  development,  resulting  in  the  creation  of 
literature  and  science  and  j^hilosophy,  there  is  no  interposition  of 
the  miraculous  or  the  supernatural,  and  all  the  mysteries  and  su- 
perstition of  religion  can  be  shown  to  result  from  infelicities  of 
speech,  the  lispings  of  primitive  races,  which  have  reached  us 
through  tradition;  the  efforts  of  undeveloped  language  to  voice 
the  abstract  truths  of  life.  The  greatest  feat  of  language  is  the 
discovery  of  a  single  term  to  represent  divine  unity,  the  formation 
of  the  ultimate  generalization.  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution  has 
had  its  beginning  in  the  great  discovery  of  Darwin,  who  revolu- 
tionized zoology  by  establishing  the  mutability  of  species,  by 
proving  that  organic  life  is  a  single  family,  developed  by  natural 
agencies  from  a  few  primordial  types.  This  theory  he  completed 
by  including  in  zoological  classifications  the  species  Man.  He 
neither  attempted  to  show  the  filiation  of  the  lower  organic  activ- 
ities with  chemical  and  physical  actions  on  the  one  hand,  nor  on 
the  other  to  show  the  relations  of  higher  organic  life  with  the 
phenomena  of  mind.  Darwin,  therefore,  was  not  a  student  of  the 
mind.  He  was  a  naturalist  as  distinguished  from  a  philosopher. 
It  is  to  such  men  as  Meyer  and  Ilelmholtz,  who  discovered  the 
correlation  and  equivalence  of  the  physical  forces,  and  to  such 
men  as  Spencer  and  Lewes,  who  have  established  the  interdepend- 
ence of  the  organic  and  the  mental  forces,  that  we  owe  the  exten- 


364  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution. 

sion  of  Darwin's  great  theory  of  the  Descent  of  Man  into  a  philos- 
ophy of  evolution;  and  I  think  that  in  neglecting  the  mental 
aspects  of  the  subject,  the  lectui'er  has  lost  an  opportunity  of 
making  a  symmetrical  presentation  of  his  great  theme.  In  the 
narrow  limits  of  this  criticism,  it  is  possible  only  to  suggest  the 
vast  proportions  of  the  theory  of  evolution.  For  humanity  the 
central  fact  of  evolution  is  the  nature  of  language.  In  language 
we  have  the  connecting  link  between  mind  and  matter,  the  agency 
which  has  raised  man  to  the  position  he  holds  above  other  related 
orders  of  li\ing  beings.  Language  is  thought,  language  is  sympa- 
thy, language  is  interaction.  In  comprehending  its  nature  we 
command  the  true  perspective  of  existence,  we  reach  the  zenith  of 
intellectual  life.  Its  categories  of  perception  and  expression  are 
universal.  Gravitation  and  affinity  and  love  all  lead  to  and  explain 
it;  even  in  the  cold,  clear  atmosphere  of  thought  its  metaphors 
and  symbols  bear  out  the  endless  analogy.  The  verb,  the  symbol 
of  acti^^ty,  is  the  soul  of  language,  the  central  fact  in  every  sen- 
tence, and  all  the  other  parts  of  speech  denote  simply  the  times 
and  places  of  the  action  or  being.  The  sentence  is  the  molecule 
of  thought ;  it  is  complete  in  itself,  containing  all  the  elements  of 
being.  It  is  the  sentence  which  transforms  facts  into  symbols,  it 
is  the  sentence  which  enables  physical  life  to  rise  into  intelligence 
or  spirituality.  This  is  the  ultimate  analysis.  It  shows  how  social 
development  is  primarily  expressed  in  the  growth  of  language, 
which  renders  mental  and  moral  development  possible.  It  shows 
us  that  mind  and  spirit  are  not  ultimate  facts,  but  aspects  of  Life, 
and  that  Life  means  Evolution. 

Dr.  Robert  G.  Eccles:  — 

In  the  lecture  and  the  criticism  we  have  an  illustration  of  the 
danger  of  looking  exclusively  on  one  side  of  a  problem.  The  ma- 
terialistic mind  looks  only  at  the  static  side,  and  sees  that  alone; 
tlie  spiritualistic  mind  looks  only  at  the  dynamic  side,  and  fancies 
tliat  is  all-inclusive.  Mr.  Nichols  and  Mr.  Perrin  represent  two 
kindsof  evolutionists:  the  one  materialistic,  repudiating  tlie  ideal; 
the  other  idealistic,  repudiating  the  material.  Each  has  a  half* 
truth,  and  each  needs  the  other  to  supplement  and  complete  his 
own  view.  But  the  Unknowable  is  tlie  true  basis  of  the  whole 
subject.  Tlie  philosophical  doctrine  of  the  Unknowable  is  not 
concerned  with  knowledge  that  can  ever  be  known.  The  phenom- 
enal universe  is  infinitely  knowable,  but  gives  us  no  hint  as  to  the 
essential  nature  of  Absolute  Being.  As  tlie  scientific  problems 
lying  at  the  basis  of  this  discussion  are  largely  questions  of  physi- 


The  Philosophy  of  Evolution.  365 

ology  and  physics,  one  needs  to  be  a  physician  in  order  to  compre- 
hend them.  Matter  in  its  outer  aspects  is  knowable,  in  its  ultimate 
aspects  is  unknowable.  Matter  and  force  are  not  what  they  appear 
to  be  to  the  senses.  A  feather  is  brushed  across  our  hand.  We 
say,  "  The  feather  tickles."  But  this  is  not  true.  The  tickle  is  in 
us,  not  in  the  feather.  Color  is  not  in  the  objects  we  see  around 
us,  it  is  the  elfect  produced  upon  our  brain  by  an  inconceivably 
rapid  vibration  of  the  rays  of  light  proceeding  from  the  object. 
Sound  does  not  exist  apart  from  the  hearer;  if  there  were  no  hearer 
there  would  be  no  sound.  "We  can  acquire  knowledge  of  how  the 
universe  affects  us,  but  not  of  the  universe  itself.  We  know  that 
there  is  more  than  matter  and  motion  in  the  universe.  There  is 
Mind  and  Being,  which  cannot  be  explained  in  terms  of  matter  or 
motion.  As  to  the  identity  of  evolution  in  other  worlds  with  that 
in  our  world,  assumed  by  Mr.  Xichols,  the  theory  of  evolution, 
which  shows  that  all  things  tend  continually  to  differentiation, 
requires  that  there  should  be  diversity  instead  of  identity  in  the 
development  of  life  on  other  planets. 

Mr.  Dudley  Blanchakd:  — 

The  evolution  of  mechanics  is  one  of  the  most  important  phases 
of  the  whole  subject  under  discussion,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  it  at 
last  touched  upon,  by  the  present  lecturer.  I  rise  merely,  as  one 
interested  in  mechanical  pursuits,  to  thank  him  for  what  he  has 
said  upon  this  topic. 

Dk.  Lewis  G.  Jajs^es:  — 

As  to  the  beneficent  character  of  the  material  progi'ess  of  which 
Mr.  Xichols  has  spoken,  I  am  wholly  in  agi'eement  with  him. 
That  this,  however,  is  all  there  is  of  the  Philosophy  of  Evolution, 
I  cannot  agree.  In  all  this  discussion,  we  are  questioning  about 
what  we  can  know.  Jfow,  fundamental  to  all  such  considerations, 
is  the  question:  What  is  an  act  of  knov:in(j  ?  What  is  conscious- 
ness ?  If  wholly  a  subjective  process,  unrelated  to  material  con- 
ditions, then  it  is  difficult  to  escape  from  the  conclusions  of  the 
Idealist.  If  wholly  a  product  of  material  conditions,  then  we  must 
follow  Mr.  Nichols.  But  if,  as  I  believe,  it  is  subjecto-objective, 
testifying  at  once  to  a  thought-process  which  cannot  be  expressed 
in  material  terms,  and  to  the  reality  of  an  external  material  world, 
then  we  must  either  rest  in  this  Dualism  as  an  ultimate  and  unex- 
plainable  fact,  or  go  forward  to  a  monism  based  upon  the  doctrine 
of  the  Unknowable.  Mr.  Nichols  says  we  see  thought  in  other 
men  only  as  brain-motion.     Now,  I  never  have  been  so  fortunate 


366  The  Philosojihy  of  Evolution. 

as  to  see  the  brains  of  other  men  think.  I  should  like  to  have  him 
explain  how  this  can  be  done.  To  me,  as  to  Spencer,  Huxley,  and 
other  evolutionists,  the  passage  from  the  physics  of  the  brain  to 
the  phenomena  of  thought  is  something  inconceivable. 

Mr.  Nichols:  — 

Di\  Janes' s  position  seems  to  be  fruitless  and  unsatisfactory, 
because  he  never  gets  to  anything  ultimate.  He  must  go  on  and 
on,  always  questioning  and  never  getting  an  answer,  instead  of 
being  satisfied  to  begin  somewhere.  It  is  useless  to  start  on  such 
a  quest.  We  can  know  nothing  of  the  ultimate  nature  of  conscious- 
ness. [Dr.  Janes  :  It  seems  that  you  are  at  last  getting  to  the 
Unknowable  yourself.]  Mr.  Nichols  :  Your  Unknowable.  What 
I  meant  to  say  was  that  consciousness  is  truly  known  just  as  other 
things  are,  when  its  internal  feeling  is  criticised  and  corrected  by 
external  observation  and  generalized  upon  both.  Then  it  seems 
to  appear  that  thought  as  observed  in  others  than  ourselves  is 
simply  a  motion  of  the  brain,  as  digestion  is  a  motion  of  the 
stomach.  The  Spencerians  (and  Dr.  Eccles  will  pardon  my  saying 
it)  are  in  a  liopeless  state  of  confusion  over  the  Unknowable,  and 
their  philosophy  of  knowledge  is  built  on  an  assumption  of  igno- 
rance. The  position  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  mind  independ- 
ent of  brain  is  an  unverifiable  one.  Dr.  Eccles  said  that  one 
ought  to  be  a  physician  to  thoroughly  grasp  the  truth  of  Evolution 
—  and  come  out  where  he  does.  Well,  there  is  Dr.  Maudsley;  he 
has  some  reputation  as  a  doctor,  and  he  is  a  materialist.  What  I 
meant  in  regard  to  evolution  in  other  worlds,  was  that  the  method 
of  evolution  is  the  same  throughout  the  universe,  though  the  ma- 
terials and  special  forms  may  be  different.  If  we  are  willing  to  ac- 
cept the  ultimates  as  they  present  themselves  to  us,  we  need  not 
chase  the  infimte.  Those  ultimates  we  know  if  we  can  know  any- 
thing, but  if  we  do  not  know  them  then  we  can  know  nothing  and 
there  is  no  use  in  thinking.  When  we  step  beyond  those  ultimates 
we  land  in  "chaos  and  old  night,"  where  is  nothing  but  dreams 
and  an  aimless  metaphysical  whirl. 


Vol.  I. 


January  and  February^  1885. 


No.  1. 


fWhole  Number,  455.] 


Subject  :   Co-cperation :  its  Laws  and  Principles. 


[With  Portrait.] 


THE   SUN 


A        BI-MONTHLY.       PUBLICATION 


DEVOTED      TO 


CO-OP-BRATION. 


KANSAS  CITY,  MO: 

C.  T.  FOWLER,  PUBLISHER, 
No.  16  W.  Fifth  St. 


Copyrigkt  Reserved  liy  The  Publighcr.]  [Entered  as  Second-Class  Mail  Matter. 

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SYNOPSIS  or  COKTEKTS. 


CO-OFERATIOB.— Introductory.— {!)  Statemetit  of  its  Conditions.— (2). 

LIBERTY  AND  ORDER.- Surrender  of  Libertrj  from  Incapacity'?— {2) 
02j'inions7-Morals%-Evils'i-{3)  Critical  Evils^- Crimed- {4>,.  Law 
OF  SociETARV  FREEDOM.— i?eap^oci<7/.—i?a<ionrtZe  of  Liberty.—STAivs 
OF  THE  Individual. -/te  Sovereignty. -(5).  Function  and  Scope  of 
Government.- (6)  Origin  of  Over-Oovernment.-(7).  Co-operative 
Association.— I^s  Nature.  Liberty  in  Lifk.— Its  Disciplinary  Power.— 
(8)  The  Test  of  Truth.— Rectifies  Conscience.— The  Seal  of  Love.— {'d). 

EQUITY  —Grounds  of  Ownership.— iS^o<  Law  or  Labor,  but  Equal  Lib- 
erty-ill)  BASisoFVmc-E.-Laborvs.  Skill.-(12).  Competition 
THE  Regulator  OFPRiCE.^^#-ec<s  of  ts  Partial  AppUcathn.-Mistaken 
for  Lack  of  Protection.    The  Currency.-(13)  One  of  L^bor.-Und  oj 

Measure. — (14). 

VIOLATIONS  OF  EQUITY. - (15) i?e««.—Pncc  on  Land.— Incompatible 
with  Use  —Price  Cancels  Price.— {lb)  Rise  in  Values.— Result  of  Land- 
lord  sm  -(16).  Interest.- i?epz/6^  canizing  Credit.— {ll)  How  Inter- 
est Wo/-te.- (18)  Power  of  Usury.  The  Profit  Making  System.->Soci- 
ety  cannot  Spectilate.-Cost  vs.  Profit.  — (19). 

VIOLATIONS  OF  LIBERTY. -Majority  RuLE.-J'or  Places  and  Person.^, 
a  Pnnciple  of  Liberty -{20).     Co-operation  vs.  Corporation. -Xe- 
qalized  Privilege.     Government  Control- T/^e  Worst  Corporation.- 
rn)     Government  Regulation.— A^oi  on  Socialistic   Grounds.— Leg it- 
imacv  oftlie  thing  Regulated.-Must  be  done  Natui  ally. -Equal  to  Laissez 
faire.— (22).     Codifying  the  hAWS.—Contra>y  to  Liberty  and  Justice. 
(23)      Political  Machinery.— A^oi  an  Agency.     The  Co-opera- 
tor's Relation  to  PoLiTics.-Socra^  befoie  Political  Forces.- Should 
Abstain  from  Politics.-i2i).     Co-operative  Methods  All  Power- 
KUL.-Powey   of  Passive   Resistance.- (25)      Outline  of  Attack  on   the 
Order  of  Business.— (2Q).    Conclusion. 

The  Nuxt  Number  of  Thk  Sun  will  be  devoted  to  The  Reorganization 
of  Business,  on  a  Labor  instead  of  a  usury  basis,  embracing  Consump- 
tion,  Production  and  Exchange;  or  the  Store,  the  Bank,  the  Farm  and 

Factory. 

These  Series  of  Nuniljers  will  aim  to  be  practical,  and  contain,  iit  th(^ 
end  of  the  year,  a  body  of  instruction  suitable  for  binding. 

N.  B.     All  Subscriptions  will  commence  with  the  First  Number. 

Extra  Copies  furnished,  at  a  discount,  on  application. 

jji^KEADY  SOON,  a  Supplement  ..f  'Vwv.  Sun  on  "Prohibition," 
or  the  Application  of  Government  t.)  Temi)eraucc.  It  contains  twenty 
e;  'ht  pages,  and  will  b<;  furnished  for  Ten  Cents  per  copy. 


^;^ 


IlKKHKin"     sl'KNcEH. 


CO-OPEKATION. 


ITS  LAWS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 


Co-operation  is  as  far  in  advance  of  civilization,  as  civilization  is  in  advance 
of  barbarism. 

We  bave,  within  the  last  fifty  years,  made  rapid  strides  in  material  wealth,  but 
no  progress  has  been  made  in  its  more  equitable  distribution;    Horace  Mann. 

We  can  calculate  the  relation  of  our  exports  to  our  imports,  and  measure  the  rate 
of  mortality,  but  we  cannot  tell  bow  much  bread  will  be  needed,  or  whether  the 
people  will  be  able  to  get  it.    Sam'l  J.  Tilden. 

WHAT  is  co-operation?  From  two  words,  con  and  opera^ 
it  means  to  work  together.  It  is  a  practical  instead  of 
a  speculative  word,  and  is  fraught  with  the  most  fruitful 
blessings  for  humanity.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  it 
should  be  so  generally  favored  as  the  ultimate  solution  of 
the  Labor  Question. 

But  in  what  we  are  to  co-operate,  how,  when,  where,  opin- 
ion is  unsettled.  The  truth  must  be  sought  in  the  nature  of 
man,  as  a  social  being.  Already  has  it  co-operated  to  produce 
language  and  society;  and  through  the  same  laws,  by  which 
the  world  has  already  been  formed,  must  it  be  re-formed. 

THE  CONDITIONS  OF  CO-OPERATION. 

are  naturally  formulated  under  three  heads. 

First,  it  is  obvious,  in  order  to  co-operate,  that  there  must 
be  Order.     This  necessitates  a  science  of  Government. 

Then  there  must  be  Justice.,  or  the  science  of  Economy. 

Now,  given  a  Umty  of  Interest,  and  we  have  Co-operation. 
And  have  we  not  this? — the  same  eyes,  the  same  hands,  the 
same  feet?  We  laugh  with  those  who  hiiigh  and  weep  with 
those  who  weep.  We  have  she  same  origin,  the  same  destiny 
and  the  same  law  of  happiness.  Then,  may  co-operation  be  re- 
garded as  X\xQ practical  application  of  the  science  of  Religion. 


2  TEE     SUN. 

THE  LAW  OF  ORDER. 

The  first  thing,  then,  to  consider,  is  how  to  Jceej)  order. 
How  far  can  a  person  go  in  his  actions  without  being  subject 
to  arrest? 

Incapacity. — Can  we  suffer  dictation,  on  the  ground  of  inca- 
pacity? Then  by  reason  of  whose  capacity?  What  consti- 
tutes the  standard  ca2:)acity?  Is  not  folly  the  material  out  of 
Avhich  wisdom  is  made?  Not  only  are  they  relative,  they  are 
interconvertible  terms.  Through  both  runs  the  same  warp 
of  self  interest.  Self  help,  at  one's  own  cost,  is  the  law  of 
growth.  Everybody  then  has  a  right  to  the  exercise  of  his 
incapacity  if  it  does  not  impose  a  burden.  Every  one  has  a  le- 
gal right  to  make  a  fool  of  himself,  providing  he  pays  the  bills. 

Ojximons. — Should  erroneous  oj^inions  be  suppressed?  If 
so,  then  who  has  got  the  correct  one?  Is  not  one's  evidence 
just  as  good  to  him  as  that  of  another?  Does  not  the  same 
rule  apply,  Avhen  my  opinions  seem  erroneous  to  you,  to  make 
yours  so  to  me?  Then  the  suppression  of  another's  opinion 
warrants  the  suppression  of  your  own,  and  the  suppression  of 
one  calls  for  the  suppression  of  all.  Can  an  idea  be  hit  by  a 
brickbat,  much  less  be  killed?  Instead,  do  not  "those  who 
would  crush  out  ideas  in  turn  perish  by  ideas?" 

Morals. — Can  bad  morals  be  tolerated?  Thought  leads  to 
action.  Preaching  points  to  practice.  A  theory  is  good  for 
nothing  if  it  cannot  be  put  into  operation.  The  people's  mor- 
als have  their  opinions  behind  them.  Opinions  cannot  be 
separated  from  morals.  AVhat  makes  my  morals  offensive  to 
you,  by  the  same  ]>rocess  of  reasoning,  reversed,  makes  yours 
distasteful  to  me.     The  suppression  business  works  both  ways. 

Emls. — Can  we  harbor  evils?  To  be  sure  some  are  great. 
But  if  we  can  suppress  the  greatest,  then  we  should  the  next, 
and  so  on  till  all  are  closed  out.  But  evil  is  only  a  m«7-adap- 
tation,  beneatli  it  is  a  soul  of  goodness;  to  arbitrarily  destroy 
all  evil  would  destroy  the  good.  To  call  upon  force  indicates 
an  utter  lack  of  all  faith  in  virtue  itself  to  cope  with  vice  on 
equal  terras.  A  resort  to  force  is  moral  cowardice,  a  virtual 
self-surrender.  Evil  may  seem  to  be  suppressed,  but  it  has 
only  been  excited  to  renewed  activity.  Breaking  the  thermom- 
eter does  not  alter  the  weather. 


CO-OPERAIION.  3 

Critical  Evils. — But  some  may  think  that  when  an  evil  gets 
to  such  a  crisis,  that,  at  any  moment,  it  maj^  break  out  into  a 
crime  and  endanger  society,  it  should  be  suppressed.  But  iipon 
such  an  elastic  construction,  all  evils  might  be  turned  into 
crimes.  Anger  would  become  murder,  houses  could  be  sup- 
pressed because  they  burn,  horses,  because  they  kick.  No, 
the  name  for  this  indemnity  is  insurance,  not  prohibition.  In- 
surance pi'otects  the  community  in  case  there  is  any  crime, 
while  prohibition  suppresses  the  evil  before  there  is  any  cer- 
tainty that  it  ever  loill  be  a  crime!  Insurance  covers  the  dama- 
ges, but  under  prohibition  the  evil  goes  free  from  paying 
any  damages.  Of  course  insurance- cannot  cover  moral  ruin, 
only  moral  rectitude  can  do  that.  Insurance  can  only  cover 
damages  assessable  in  dollars  and  cents. 

Crime. — A  crime  is  an  overt  act  of  force  accompanied  with 
a  bad  intent.  It  is  unreciprocal  in  its  action,  destroying  all 
equality  of  relationship.  It  demands  what  it  cannot  confer, 
and  should  therefore  be  suppressed.  Why?  Because  in 
exercising  the  supreme  authority  of  denying  to  another  the 
right  of  habeas  corinis,  we  cannot  be  too  certain  of  our  rea- 
sons for  so  doing. 

Not  the  act  itself- — The  reason  for  the  arrest  of  crime  ari- 
ses from  its  relationship  and  not  from  the  nature  of  the  act 
itself.  It  is  not  our  business  to  prevent  another  from  visiting 
his  vengeance  upon  himself,  neither  is  he  to  be  hindered,  by 
mutual  c(*nsent,  from  visiting  it  upon  others.  It  is  not  because 
people  do  wrong,  or  we  think  they  are  doing  wrong,  that  they 
should  be  dei>rived  of  their  liberty.  The  nature  of  the  act  has 
notliing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  Since  our  })rivacy  and  time 
belong  to  us  as  much  as  our  person  and  property,  an  act  good  in 
itself,  may  interfere  with  our  liberty,  while  a  bad  one  may  not. 

We  have  then  reached  the  point  wliich  avo  set  out  to  seek,  the 

LAW  OF  SOCIETARY  FREEDOM. 

Ride  of  Reciprocity. — The  only  justifiable  reason  then,  for 
taking  away  another's  freedom,  is  because  another's  acts  adniit 
of  no  reci])rocity,  demanding  for  one's  self  wliat  one  cannot  con- 
cede, and  denying  to  others  what  we  demand  for  ourselves. 


4  THE     SUN. 

Reciprocity,  therefore,  is  the  law  of  liberty  and  the  basis  of 
harmony  in  human  relations.*  Action  and  reaction  being  equal, 
an  equilibrium  is  maintained.  This  then  is  the  one  thing  to  be 
subsei-ved.  If  liberty  is  arrested,  it  is  only  when  it  usurps  that 
of  all.  Then  it  is  the  arrest  of  only  a  limitation  of  liberty. 
Where  perfect  liberty  prevails,  there  will  be  perfect  order,  for 
confusion  cannot  be  conceived,  where  everyone  has  his  owti 
and  attends  to  it.  Therefore,  liberty  is  not,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  'the  daughter,  but  the  mother  of  order.'  Not  your 
liberty,  solely,  or  my  liberty,  for  this  sect  or  that  party,  but  a 
universal,  scientific  liberty,  verifiable  by  the  rule  of  reciprocity 
in  social  relations. 

T/ie  Rationale  of  Liberty  is  that  it  presupposes  the  integrity 
of  nature;  that  it  can  be  trusted;  that  it  is  safe  to  leave  the 
whole  of  virtue  with  the  whole  of  vice.  As  a  cure  for  the  evils 
of  liberty,  gxant  more  liberty,  for  evils  tend  to  abolish  them- 
selves. There  is  more  hope  in  freedom  for  vice,  than  virtuous 
conformity  in  slavery.  Activity  is  at  last  the  only  virtue  and 
eternal  vigilance  its  price. 

STATUS  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL. 

Individuality. — The  law  of  liberty  emphasizes  individuality. 
As  things  differ,  they  become  separate.  Every  round  in  the 
ladder  of  life,  whether  as  atoms,  cells,  organs,  or  persons,  rests 
upon  an  individual.  Everything  propagates  after  its  kind, 
there  is  no  hybrid.  Individuality  is  the  condition  hi  expres- 
sion and  of  genius.  It  is  as  inevitable  as  that  a  circle  must 
have  a  centre,  as  indestructible  as  consciousness,  Avithout  it,  we 
are  not.     In  it  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being. 

Individual  Sovereignty. — Every  individual  is  sovereign  in 
its  own  sjjhere,  over  its  own  affairs,  a  law  unto  itself,  over 
church  and  state,  over  treason  and  blasphemy.  Individuals 
existed  before  institutions,  for  them  they  exist,  out  of  them 
they  are  made.  The  individual  has  the  right  to  secede,  for 
passive  resistance  is  not  a  crime.  No  one  else  is  thereby  pre- 
vented from  giving  his  or  her  support.  After  voluntary  rep- 
resentation ceases,  taxation  sliould  also  cease. 

♦Confucius,  when  asked  if  there  was  one  word  which  contained  the  whole  duty  of 
man,  thinking  a  moment,  said,  "The  nearest  word  1  can  think  of  is  Keciprocity." 


CO-OPEBATION.  5 

Individual  sovereignty  is  the  ripe  fruit  of  Democracy.  The 
opposite  is  a  theocracy.  One  appeals  to  the  equal  liberty  of 
all;  the  other,  to  a  despotic  infallibility.  In  the  one  case, 
God  created  man,  in  the  other,  Man  is  creating  God.  One 
is  from  the  Orient,  the  other  is  Occidental.  One  is  the  Pope, 
the  other,  Private  Judgment.  One  is  the  Kingdom  of  heav- 
en, the  other  is  the  CommonAvealth  of  Man.  Already,  piety 
and  the  Church  rest  upon  voluntary  support.  It  inevitably 
follows  that  morality  and  the  State  must;  for  the  same  argu- 
ments adduced  in  favor  of  the  one  are  equally  as  applicable 
in  favor  of  the  other. 

FUNCTION  AND  SCOPE  OF  GOVERNIMENT. 

.  *   • 

Now  the  sovereignty  of  each  individual  implies  the  sover- 
eignty of  all.  This  then  gives  ground  for  government,  to  guar- 
antee this  equcil  sovereignty.  It  exists  to  stop  a  crime  by  a  crime, 
but  by  a  defensive,  and  therefore  justifiable  one,  on  the  ground 
that  force  can  withstand  force  and  make  way  for  liberty.  But 
this  sphere  of  government  needs  to  be  very  jealously  guarded, 
for  the  moment  it  goes  a  step  farther,  outside  of  its  specific,  in- 
dividual function,  it  becomes  an  offensive  criminal.  The  gov- 
ernmental machine,  like  any  other,  from  its  very  nature,  can  do 
but  07ie  kind  of  work.  If  it  attempts  everything,  it  must  leave 
its  own  proper  work  undone.  Then,  its  influence  is  most  dis- 
astrous. It  not  only  becomes  a  thief  and  a  criminal,  but  the 
father  of  them.  Its  administration  is  artificial,  arbitrary,  ineffi- 
cient, costly  and  cumbersome.  And  did  not  government  orig- 
inate in  the  offensive?  does  it  not  now  live  by  and  for  aggres- 
sion? and  however  pervasive  the  government  of  nature  is,  when 
the  ear  marks  of  authority  fade,  will  not  government  as  a^/>gc'- 
ialized  administration  entirely  disappear?  In  every  atom,  or- 
gan and  star,  do  we  see  the  egoistic  and  altruistc  balaiu-e;  shall 
man,  with  his  sense  of  justice,  constitute  the  only  exception? 
Certainly,  liberty  can  be  entrusted  to  stand  guard  over  herself. 

Now  over-government  isarelic  of  the  god-idea.  For  a  while, 
he  ruled  direct,  then  delegated  his  powers  to  demi-gods,  then 
to  kings,  by  divine  right,  then  to  majorities,  who  could  do  no 
wrong.  It  arises  in  the  worship  of  power.  Offices,  officers,  le- 
gal forms,  coins,  stamps,  'Be  it  enacted,'  as  a  'Thus  saith  the 


6  THE     SUN. 

Lord,'  &c,  are  its  political  fetiches.  When  the  people  are  un- 
able to  detect  the  direct  and  immediate  cause  of  any  display 
of  power,  they  attribute  it  to  a  third  person,  outside  of  them- 
selves and  nature,  which  does  not  exist.  "A  gross  delusion," 
says  Guizot,  "is  the  belief  in  the  sovereign  power  of  political 
machinery." 

Theoretically,  it  exists  to  protect  its  subjects,  but,  actually,  it 
preys  upon  them.  Holding  up  its  law  and  order,  its  misplaced 
authority  produces  rebellion,  for,  as  Emerson  says,  "the  highest 
virtue  is  always  against  the  law."  The  greatest  re_specters  of 
authority  are  the  most  depraved.  Just  as  those  recently  slaves 
make  the. most  unmerciful  masters,  so  the  most  ignorant  are  the 
most  submissive.  Rebels,  in  all  ages,  have  been  patriots  in 
disguise,  and  the  paraphernalia  of  'patriot «6V?i'  has  ever  been 
the  delusion  of  fools.     ' 

Now,  between  a  superstition  and  the  government  of  nature, 
can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  their  Jurisdiction?  If  it  is  in  the 
constitution  of  things,  what  matters  it  if  it  is  'unconstitutional?' 
Is  not  what  is  the  previous  question  and  the  one  of  last  resort? 
Certainly  our  Anti-slavery  struggle  should  have  taught  us  this 
lesson,  that  what  is  legal  must  not  stand  in  the  way  of  what  is 
lawful,  nor  ric/ht  succumb  to  anybody's  mere  opinion  about  it. 

CO-OPERATIVE  ASSOCIATION. 

Co-operative  association,  then,  is  free,  spontaneous,  voluntary, 
for  no  organization  can  rise  higher  than  its  source,  the  indi- 
viduals who  compose  it.  If  these  are  free,  there  will  be  a  nat- 
ural expression  of,  not  only  the  average  intelligence,  as  under 
majority  rule,  but  all  of  it.  Of  course  the  product  will  not  be 
infallible,  as  under  a  theocracy,  nevertheless,  it  will  be  perfect, 
for  it  will  be  the  highest  and  best  of  which  the  members  are 
capable.  All  trusts  are  delegated  to  responsible  individuals, 
not  to  a  committee.  Its  jjropositions,  to  gain  the  broadest 
assent,  are  reduced  to  their  simplest  terras.  Each  step  is  sure, 
because  experimental.  The  constitution  is  liberty.  It  cannot 
be  In'oken,  lor  it  is  not  nuide.  None  can  bolt,  for  nobody  is 
arbitrarily  i)ouii(l.  It  is  a  creature  of  growth,  and  in  the  line 
of  evolution.  I^diication,  under  liljcrty,  does  not  need  the 
distortion  of  being  made  'compulsory.' 


CO-OPEBATIOK  7 

LIBERTY  IN  LIFE. 

The  importance,  attached  to  the  doctrine  of  liberty  may 
perhaps  pardon  a  farther  amplification  of  it,  beyond  its  mere 
immediate  application  to  government. 

Dhciplinary. — There  are  some  who  fear  to  trust  the  mas&es 
with  liberty.  They  hold  that  man's  own  nature  is  incapable 
of  self  government,  unless  aided  by  a  higher  power,  which  is 
themselve.s\  The  boys  may  go  in  swimming  but  they  must  not 
go  near  the  water.     Liberty,  with  them,  means  danger. 

Now  from  what  does  this  fear  orisfinate  unless  it  be  the  iin- 
natural  restraints  of  an  arbitrary  and  external  authority?  From 
this,  people  break  away  and  go  to  the  other  extreme;  or  else 
blindly  submit  to  its  evils,  as  the  will  of  God.  So  it  is  author- 
ity instead  of  liberty  which  is  the  breeder  of  license.  Liberty 
is  the  source  of  self  help  and  dicipline.  As  such,  it  has  a 
right  to  make  mistakes.  Yet  accountability,  responsibility, 
all  the  safeguards  of  action,  are  on  the  side  of  liberty.  She  is 
not  infallible,  yet  she  is  the  teacher  of  infallibility.  Law 
itself  is  made  out  of  liberty.  Indeed,  she  is  the  most  careful 
and  conservative  of  mortals. 

The  Test  of  Truth. — Accusations  for  blasphemy  and  treason 
are  no  longer  rife,  but  'heretical,'  'obscene,'  'seditious'  and  'in- 
cendiary' opinions  prevail.  But  what  is  heresy  and  scepticism, 
except  as  .their  derivatives  imply,  but  an  effort  of  the  mind  to 
discover  truth,  constituting  a  neio  revelation,  opposed  to  the  old 
only  in  respect  to  its  limitations?  If  following  one's  convic- 
tions be  heresy,  pray  what  must  orthodoxy  be? 

And  what  is  obscenity,  except  such  an  ignorance  of  sex  as  to 
fear  the  consequences  of  its  freest  discussion?  And  what  is 
incendiary,  except  an  admission  that  the  so  called  property  is 
merely  nominal,  not  real?  Otherwise,  how  could  the  mere 
expression  of  an  opinion  prove  incendiary? 

Hectifies  Co)iscience. — Without  liberty,  loyalty  is  a  danger- 
ous thing.  For  what  above  all  else  are  we  to  be  loyal?  to  the 
Pope,  or  the  King?  Or  shall  we  follow  our  convictions?  But 
what  if  our  convictions  differ,  and  there  is  a  conflict  of  con- 
sciences? None  have  been  greater  persecutors  than  jiersons 
under  conviction.     When  consciences  differ,  there  is  no  alterna- 


8  THE     SUN. 

tive  but  an  appeal  to  the  law  of  equal  freedom.  Liberty,  then, 
is  paramount  to  loyalty.  Let  us  be  loyal  to  liberty  and  every 
other  cause  will  prosper. 

T7ie  Seal  of  Love. — Family  instinct,  through  blood  relation, 
first  spread  into  tribal  affection.  Then  single-handed  combat 
brought  association  and  the  recognition  of  certain  collective 
rights.  But  these  rights  only  applied  to  certain  classes,  and  a 
conflict  of  rights  arose.  The  only  solution  of  this  is  an  equal- 
ity of  human  rights,  which  is  the  greatest  of  rights.  This 
ushers  in  the  unity  of  the  race,  and  in  place  of  parties  and 
sects,  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

When  the  headquarters  of  authority  are  vested  in  a  theoc- 
racy, there  exists  the  supposed  government  of  God  over  the 
Devil,  or  good  over  evil,  and  so  authority,  as  a  cultus,  ari- 
ses. For  while  there  are  the  'good'  and  the  'bad,'  one  will  be 
sui^erior  to  and  above  the  other.  It  will  become  exclusive, 
patronizing,  pharisaical,  and  dictatorial.  One  Avill  form  a 
caste,  the  other  will  become  an  outcast. 

Now,  in  routing  these  pharisaical  pretenders  to  authority  and 
pride,  liberty  holds  a  lamp  for  love,  by  which  it  is  seen  that 
this  personal  superiority  does  not  exist;  good  and  bad  being 
interchangeable  terms  and  derived  from  the  same  absolute 
root.  Do  not  doctors  now  practise  medicine  on  the  principle 
that  disease  is  an  effort  of  nature  to  overcome  an  obstruction? 

Besides,  the  autliority  of  'character'  as  a  cult,  must  go.  For 
both  free  will  and  the  divine  will  are  subject  to  law.  Sinq)ly 
change  places,  and  saints  become  sinners,  and  sinners  become 
saints.  The  authority  therefore,  of  great  men,  as  political  and 
tlieological  bosses,  is  not  greatly  worshiped  under  co-operation. 

So  liberty  lights  up,  for  love,  every  crook  and  cranny  of  the 
universe.  The  highest  love  it  is  found  is  only  consistent  with 
the  truest  democracy.  The  pale  spiritual  vanishes,  to  be 
sure,  with  its  dogmatism,  but  "gross,  vile,  dead,  matter"  is 
81)ontaneonsly  illuminated  witli  miraculous  power;  the  ghosts 
}>ecome  living  beings.  Of  course  the  sacred  is  lost,  but  no  lon- 
ger is  the  secular  profane.  The  divine  departs,  but  the  human 
is  transfigured  and  glorified.  By  the  universal  unity  of  law, 
this  l)ec(m>es  the  other  world;  immortality  a  necessity,  instead 
of  a  gift,  and  God  aiul  the  Devil  are  one! 


CO-OPERATION. 

Liberty  may  be  called  the  physiology  of  love;  one  the  stem, 
the  other  the  blossom;  one  the  stream,  the  other  the  ocean;  one 
light,  the  other  heat;  one  the  head,  the  other  the  heart;  one  har- 
mony, the  other  fusion.  Liberty  is  each  for  all,  love  is  all  for 
each.     One  is  the  perfect  law  and  the  other  is  its  fulfillment. 

We  might  further  trace  the  relation  of  liberty  to  life,  to  hap- 
piness, to  progress:  show  how  it  is  the  soul  of  inspiration,  to 
be  preferred  before  life  itself;  but  it  is  enough  if  we  have  in- 
spired confidence  in  her  as  a  safe  guide  to  follow,  for  wher- 
ever in  the  broad  earth  life  and  joy  are  found  there  is  liberty. 

Let  us  then  learn  this  lesson,  that  liberty  is  a  definite,  cohe- 
rent, scientific  principle:  that  it  is  regulated  by  its  own  recip- 
rocal action  of  equal  freedom:  that  it  is  the  basis  of  harmony 
and  the  mother  of  order.  If  she  be  encountered  by  knowledge 
and  the  consensus  of  the  competent,  let  knowledge  perish,  rath- 
er than  that  liberty  should  fail.  Though  her  teachings  be  mis- 
leading, even  indirectly  destructive,  yet,  let  'law  and  order'  per- 
ish, rather  than  that  liberty  should  not  prevail.  Yea,  though 
the  sky  be  black  with  vice,  and  corruption  stalk  abroad,  still, 
keep  burning  the  lamp  of  liberty,  and  darkness  will  give  place 
to  light,  and  the  whole  heavens  be  filled  with  the  sunshine 
of  peace  and  prosperity. 


EQUITY. 

EQUITY  is  the  application  of  the  principle  of  liberty  to 
commerce.  Without  coercion,  injustice  is  impossible.  Given 
perfect  liberty,  and  injustice  rights  itself.  Save  as  a  human 
equation,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  principle  of  justice.  Po- 
litical economy,  threfore,  is  a  misnomer,  and  since,  in  nature, 
the  sup])ly  is  equal  to  the  demand,  cJuirity  is  the  handmaid 
and  nurse  of  injustice.  Without  equal  liberty,  property  is 
robbery  and  price  an  extortion. 

GROUNDS  OF  OWNERSHIP. 

Is  age  or  legality  a  final  title  to  property  V  Upon  what  does 
legality  rest  except  somebody's  opinion?  And  as  to  age,  the 
older  a  thing  becomes,  it  goes  to  decay,      if  one  should  go 


10  THE     SUN. 

hsLck  fa?'  enough,  he  would  come  to  the  savage  instinct.  If  a 
title,  originally  wrong,  can  be  improved  by  years,  how  many 
earswill  it  take  to  make  it  perfect?  How  many  more  to  make 
it  more  than  perfect? 

On  the  contrary,  legality  and  age,  as  titles  to  property,  have 
been  constantly  undergoing  modification.  What  was  the 
decline  of  Feudalism,  the  Corn  Law  agitation,  the  slave  Enian. 
cipatiou,  but  a  destruction  of  legality  and  age,  because  incom- 
patible with  the  equal  freedom  of  all.  Even  labor's  claim  to 
property  would  fail,  were  it  not  that  the  right  to  exist  is  the 
most  fundamental  of  all  rights  and  depends  upon  reaping  the 
results  of  of  one's  labor.  Moreover,  the  product  of  our  labor 
is  mixed  with  the  product  of  nature  and  there  are  many  things 
indispensable  to  possess,  such  as  air,  light,  land  and  water, 
which  are  wholly  disconnected  from  any  labor.  How  is  the 
tenure  of  these  to  be  determined,  except  upon  the  basis  of  the 
equal  liberty  of  all?     Liberty,  therefore,  is  the  final  test. 

BASIS  OF  PRICE. 

"Labor  was  the  first  price  paid  for  anything.  The  product 
of  labor  constitutes  the  natural  recompense,  or  wages  of  labor," 
said  Adam  Smith.  Xow  the  question  arises,  is  labor  to  be  the 
secoiul  price,  or  does  something  else  intervene?  Is  skill  a  factor 
of  price?  Then  how?  The  product  of  skilled  labor  is  greater 
than  unskilled,  for  which  reason,  the  services  of  such  will  be 
in  greater  demand,  and  being  scarcer,  will  bring  a  higher  price. 
But  is  this  to  be  termed  payment  for  skill?  not  at  all,  for, 
while  the  reward  of  2>ersonal  services  cannot  be  separated  from 
their  natural  product,  the  terms  of  the  price  are  always  reck- 
oned from  a  labor  standpoint.  The  buyer  thinks  only  of  the 
valu(!  hv.  is  receiving,  measured  by  the  cost  of  reproduction. 

S/>-i/f  7JS.  Labor. — Suppose  an  inventor's  machine  will  do  the 
work  of  a  thousand  men,  then  on  the  ground  of  skill,  that 
"a  thing  is  wortli  wliat  it  will  fetch,"  it  should  command  the 
services  of  a  thousand  lives!  But  suppose  ihe  first  inventor 
is  supplanted  by  anotlier,  or  the  consumers  go  to  manufac- 
turing their  own  in.ichinos,  hoAv  then  could  skill  get  rewarded? 
Oh,  it  has  j>atentc<l  a  jtriiiciplu  of  nature,  and  there  cannot  be 
but  o;i€  monopoly  of  a  principle  of  nature!     Either  the  first, 


CO-OPERATION.  11 

by  litigation,  must  kill  off  its  rival  or  else  combine  and  divide. 
In  either  case,  full  payment  for  skill  has  defeated  itself. 
As  competition  prevails,   it  will  be  entirely  lost  in  labor  cost. 

Skill  cannot  be  compensated,  it  is  its  own  reward.  Compen- 
sation means  to  weigh  back,  it  is  a  conservation  of  force.  Skill 
is  natural  adaptation,  ease  of  execution.  Instead  of  being  com- 
pensated, its  possessor  should  be  congratulated.  Xot  so  with 
labor,  its  nature  is  to  lose,  lapse,  die.  That  of  the  body  in  ex- 
posure and  fatigue;  that  of  the  mind,  in  anxiety,  responsibility 
and  care.  These  should  be  compensated.  The  reason  the  be. 
lief  so  generally  prevails  that  skill  should  be  rewarded,  as  the 
latest  refinement  of  slavery,  arises  from  the  fact  that  through 
tricks  of  trade  and  cunning  legislation  it  is  too  often  rewarded. 
But  the  skill  of  the  artist,  the  ai'tisan,  that  of  the  scientist  and 
the  inventor,  we  rarely  ever  see  culminate  in  a  bonanza  king, 
even  the  Savior  of  the  world  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head. 

Labor  then,  is  tlie  data  from  which  all  just  price  must  be 
reckoned.  That  which  costs  much  should  bring  much;  that 
which  costs  little  should  bring  less;  that  which  costs  nothing 
should  bring  nothing.  All  profit  that  cannot  be  calculated  in 
tei'ms  of  labor  is  something  for  notliing.  Under  no  circum- 
stances can  skill  be  preferred  before  labor  in  determining  price, 
and  after  equal  liberty  has  been  realized,  nothing  but  labor 
will  ever  permanently  enter  into  it. 

COMPETITION,  THE  REGULATOR  OF  PRICE. 

But  this  is  not  saying  hoio  mxich  labor  shall  enter  into  it.  It 
is  natural  and  proper  that  the  seller  should  endeavor  to  get  for 
his  labor  its  full  natural  product.  It  is  also  the  privilege  of  the 
buyer  to  get  his  goods  with  the  least  labor.  This  gives  rise 
to  competition,  which  function  is  to  equalize  prices  and  lower 
the  cost  of  production.  But,  that  competition  may  work  be- 
neficently, it  must  be  free  all  round.  If  the  highways  are  to 
be  blocked  by  freebooters,  if  the  currency  is  to  be  controlled,  if 
a  tariff  is  to  destroy  private  contract,  if  business  is  to  be  run 
by  legislative  Philistines,  then,  all  the  competition  will  be 
among  laborers  themselves,  nd  woe  be  to  their  lot!  Supply 
and  demand    will    now    become    advantage    and    necessity, 


12  -  THE     SUN. 

producers  will  become  speculators,  prices  rise,  consumption  de- 
crease, corners  be  made,  until  the  demand  comes  to  the  supply. 
And  what  is  this  supply?  It  is  a  wolf,  called  capital.  And 
the  demand — Heaven  save  the  mark,  is  labor  shivering  and 
stai-\'ing.  And,  unwittingly,  mistaking  a  partial  liberty  for  li- 
cense, it  is  still  calling  upon  the  legislature  for  more  protection ! 

THE  CURRENCY. 

After  a  just  price,  the  remaining  element  in  a  just  exchange, 
is  a  just  currency.  If  it  does  not,  in  return,  guarantee  the  price 
paid,  the  price  itself  might  just  as  well  have  been  unjust.  If 
the  price  paid  then  be  a  labor  one,  the  currency,  Avliich  is  to 
represent  and  guarantee  the  price,  must  also  be  a  labor  one. 
A  labor  statistic  cannot  be  stated  in  dollars  and  cents.  Gold 
does  not  measure  labor,  labor  measures  it  If  a  whole  moun- 
tain-full of  gold  should  be  discovered,  the  world  Avould  be  bank- 
rupt; for  it  would  be  such  an  inflation  of  labor,  as  to  totally 
repudiate  it.  Labor  is  now  the  currency  of  the  world.  Gold 
and  silver  are  only  the  counters  of  the  money  changers.  The 
merchant  and  the  farmer  use  no  other  as  the  basis  of  their 
calculations.  For,  what  is  a  dollar's  worth  of  any  thing,  but  that 
thing  compared  with  the  labor  in  something  else — an  ideal  labor 
dollar?  If  then,  a  gold  dollar  is.  but  a  labor  dollar,  why  not  di- 
rectly say  so,  and  without  subterfuge,  come  to  a  speciiic  basis? 

Do  we  not  all  know  that  gold  is  but  a  gambler's  lie?  That  it 
costs  three  times  as  much  to  dig  it  as  it  is  worth,  and  after  it  is 
dug,  a  leather  dollar  would  serve  the  purpose  better?  For  while 
gold  is  in  a  currency,  it  cannot  be  used  as  a  commodity,  and 
while  an  article  of  virtu,  it  is  good  for  nothing  as  a  currency. 
As  one  scarce  commodity,  so  infinitely  divisible  that  a  micro- 
scopic atom,*  locked  uj)  in  a  Jew's  safe  with  the  key  thrown 
away,  it  will  still  represent  all  property  and  serve  as  a  hash  for 
— ?     Looking  at  gold  from  the  side  of  labo||  it  is  a  fiction  and 

••'In»tend  of  itB  beinf;;  the  value  of  the  metal  that  coiilrols  the  valne  of  money  it  is 
the  valne  of  the  money  tliut  governs  the  value  of  the  metal.  The  value  of  money  is 
entirely  independent  of  the  cubntancc  of  which  it  is  machr."  Vhaa.  Morari  on  Mon- 
ey, p.  3'J.  "IncreaMe  the  scarcity  of  gold  to  a  certain  degree,  nnd  the  smallest  hit  of 
It  may  become  more  ])recl()UH  than  a  diamond,  and  exchange  for  a  greater  quantity 
of  other  goods."'  Adutn  SmUh'K  Wealth  of  Nations.  B.  /.  Oh.  XT.  "Wore  the  cur- 
rency nuJlcieHtli/  limited,  a  Hhilling  might  be  made  to  do  the  bui^iness,  or  pass  at  the 
value  of  a  guinea."  J.  II  MrVulloch.  See  Hicardo,  Mill,  Opdyke,  Walker,  AC. 
A  dollar's  worth  of  nickels  Is  worth  eight  cents. 


CO-OPERATION.  13 

a  fraud,  viewed  by  itself,  it  is  2i  fetich,  the  bead  and  wampum 
traffic  of  savage  barter,  an  ancient  prejudice  for  bits  of  yellow 
dross,  an  antiquated  superstition  that  only  the  precious  metals 
were  wealth. 

Unit  of  3Iecisure. — It  then,  the  real  dollar  is  a  labor  dollar, 
what  is  its  unit  of  measure?  Plainly,  it  must  be  measured  by 
its  duration  and  intensity,  with  time  as  the  unit  of  measure. 
While  there  are  many  kinds  of  employment,  there  is  but  one 
kind  of  labor,  differing  only  in  degree,  so  that  quality,  or  inten- 
sity, can  be  measured  by  quantitiy,  or  duration.  An  hour  of 
severe  labor  would  therefore  count  two  of  ordinary  labor,  or 
100  per  cent,  above /)ar.  The  labor,  by  common  consent,  stand- 
ing at  par,  would  be  that  of  agriculture.  For,  it  is  this  which 
establishes  the  first  price,  it  is  this  in  which  seven  tenths  of 
the  people  are  engaged  and  upon  which  the  subsistence  of  all 
depends. 


violatio:n^s  of  equity. 

RENT,  interest,  profit  and  taxes  are  the  four  great  thieves 
of  history.  Rent  is  the  monopoly  of  land,  interest  the 
monopoly  of  money,  profit  the  monopoly  of  trade,  and  govern- 
ment the  monopoly  of  the  monopolies. 

RENT. 

Under  equity,  we  found  price  rested  on  labor.  Now  what 
is  land,  so  much  dirt  void  of  all  improvements,  that  it  should 
bear  a  price?  It  existed  before  Adam,  it  will  continue  to 
exist  after  Adam's  descendants  have  passed  away. 

Price  Absurd. — How  can  there  be  a  price  put  on  that  which 
costs  nothing'^  It  cannot  be  cancelled  by  labor.  No  labor 
price  can  be  set  upon  it.  There  is  not  so  good  a  title  to  it  as 
there  was  under  a  l)lack  skin,  for  it  did  cost  some  labor  to 
raise  a  slave.  To  put  a  price  on  land,  without  any  labor  title, 
is  to  deny  all  property  in  labor,  to  eontiscate  it.  it  is  blasplie- 
my;  for  it  denies  the  equal  paternity  of  nature,  of  air,  light, 
water,  sun,  from  the  nadir  to  the  zenith!     It  is  inhuman,  for  it 


14  THE     SUN. 

destroys  equal  opportunity;  a  man  better  be  owned  than  free 
M'itb  no  laud.  It  is,  moreover,  in  the  highest  degree  criminal; 
it  not  only  destroys  human  life,  but  denies  the  right  of 
existence;  for  if  the  land  can  be  sold,  it  can  be  entirely  owned 
by  one  man. 

Incompatible  loith  Use. — Price  on  land,  not  only  debars  many 
from  gaining  possession,  but  having  got  possession,  its  use  for 
living  purposes,  is  in  no  way  enhanced  by  having  a  price,  on 
tlie  contrary,  the  less  the  price  the  better. 

Price  cancels  Price. — Nor  is  one  benefited  when  he  comes 
to  sell,  for  he  has  to  pay  back  again  just  what  he  gets.  It 
is  supposable  that  all  must  have  somewhere  to  stay,  and 
since  one  lot  is  only  worth  another,  similarly  situated,  what 
matters  it  whether  we  get  Si.  or  §1000.  a  foot?  And  even  if 
one  has  a  small  income  from  rent,  it  is  more  than  counterbal 
ancedby  the  rent  paid  out  again  in  the  enhanced  cost  of  living- 
Society,  then,  gains  no  wealth  from  price  on  land.  It  is  as 
great  a  delusion  as  the  belief,  once  prevailing,  that  only  the 
precious  metals  were  wealth. 

Rise  in  Peal  Estate. — In  America,  immigration  assists  the 
'boom'  by  reason  of  the  desirability  in  new  association.  But 
to  put  a  price  u])on  this,  is  to  sell  one's  self!  Profiting  by  such 
a  boom  necessitates  an  endless  march  towards  barbarism! 
The  human  race  cannot  always  keep  going  "West!  Finally  it 
will  bring  up  where  it  started.  The  ebb  and  flow  neutralize, 
producing  a  calm.  There  is  no  longer  any  rise.  And  as  soon 
as  the  people  find  themselves  paying  the  old  selling  price,  they 
come  to  their  senses  only  to  find  themselves  loaded  up  with 
vahies  representing  nothing!  Only  a  few  capitalists,  a  few 
drones,  the  first  denizens  of  this  frog  pond  or  that  sheep  pas- 
ture, now  called  Boston,  New  York  and  Chicago,  who  by 
sijuatting  in  labor's  hive,  profit  by  the  rise  in  real  estate. 

The  Pexults  of  Landlordism  are  antagonism,  waste,  dilajji- 
(lation,  s(piah)r,  disease,  conflagrations,  poverty  and  crime.  It 
is  an  lieirlooni  of  war  and  shiverv.  It  does  not  guarantee  an 
cfjual  sliare  of  what  land  the  people  want  to  use,  but,  until  the 
pound  of  flesh  is  \),xu\,  prevents  its  use.  In  New  York,  it  once 
took  five  acres  of  ground  to  supj)ort  one  German  gardener, 
and  tiiat  by  hard  work.     Now,  the  'unearned  increment'  of  this 


CO-OPERATION.  15 

plantation  commands  the  services  of  5,000  'born  thralls'  of 
Wm.  Astor.  Every  10  years,  according  to  the  rate  of  increase 
on  the  investment,  the  city,  from  rent,  is  rebuilt  and  given 
to  the  land-^r(7s/  Already,  in  Fifth  Avenue,  the  ground 
rent  exceeds  the  improvements,  and  io!  there  are  the  Five 
Points!  In  10  years,  these  five  acres  will  call  for  the  labor  of 
10,000  men;  this  is  London.  In  20  years,  it  takes  the  labor  of 
20,000  men.  Yet  still,  the  land  7'ises!  In  30  years,  it  takes 
the  labor  of  40,000,  in  40  years,  80,000,  in  50  years,  160,000! 
Good  heavensi  where  can  they  all  stand?  how  can  they  live? 
They  cannot  live,  twelve  are  in  a  room,  the  sewers  give  way, 
life  is  unbearable,  death  a  boon,  home  and  citizenship  are  al- 
iens, the  city  sleeps  on  a  volcano.  Was  Paradise  a  gardeyi'i 
here  is  a  living  hell!  Hark,  there  is  the  sound  of  an  explosion, 
the  heavens  are  filled  with  a  lurid  glare,  revolution  has  begun! 
Now  shiver  the  palaces  of  glass,  now  shrivel  the  rainbow  col- 
ored walls  and  not  a  vestige  remains  of  the  iniquitous  system* 

INTEREST. 

Interest  is  the  twin  of  rent.  It  has  no  labor  equivalent  and 
denies  the  right  of  private  property.  It  is  not  payment  for 
any  service  performed,  nor,  since  loans  are  made  on  security, 
is  it  for  any  risk  incurred.  Neither  is  it  payment  lor  a  share 
in  nature's  increase,  for  this  is  free  and  equal  to  all.  Neither 
is  it  because  capital  employs  labor,  for  capital  is  the  child  of 
labor,and  when  properly  organized,  can  employ  itself.  Inter- 
est is  a  tax  on  exchange,  through  a  monopoly  of  credit. 

Republicanizing  Credit. — Money  is  not  a  'tool,'  a  'medium,' 
or  even  a  'representative'  of  value,  it  is  simply  so  much  tcater,  a 
floating  account.  And  banking  is  but  a  method  of  securing,  or 
keeping  those  accounts.  It  is  not  a  'creature  of  law,'  but  of 
commerce.  The  right  to  issue  money  is  as  inalienable  as  the 
right  to  produce.  It  is  'law'  which  has  wrought  all  the  mis- 
chief with  money.  If  it  is  not  solvent,  can  it  be  made  so  by 
calling  it  'legal  tender?'  If  it  is  already  solvent,  can  it  be 
made  more  so?  If  the  banks  should  discard  the  trade  dollar, 
what  could   the   government   do?      Then  why  meddle,  why 

♦i'here  is  no  foumlation  in  uii'  uic,  or  natural  laws,  why  a  sef  of  icords  on  parch- 
ment, should  convey  the  dominion  of  laud.— Blackstone's  Commentakies. 


16  THE    SUT. 

interfere?  Only  to  profit  by  the  monopoly  of  the  currency.  The 
necessity  of  interest,  when  National  bank  notes  are  issued  at 
one  per  cent.,  and  greenbacks  in  London,  are  above  par  in  gold, 
is  no  longer  an  02:>en  question.  The  only  question  is,  who,  and 
what  kind  of  property,  shall  share  in  the  benefits  of  free  bank- 
ing. It  seems  to  us  that  he  who  is  able  to  furnish  security,  of 
whatever  character,  with  which  to  redeem  another  person's 
money,  is  amply  able,  with  proper  machinery,  to  issue  his  own. 
Otherwise,  the  sinner  becomes  greater  than  the  redeemer.* 

How  Interest  Works. — Suppose  the  world's  capital  is  $100,. 
000.  at  ten  per  cent,  interest,  employing  100  men  at  a  dollar  a 
day.  The  first  year,  the  capital  increases  to  8110,000.  But 
there  is  only  $100,000.  of  money  with  which  to  pay  $110,000. 
How  is  it  to  be  done?  Out  of  the  products  of  labor.  Capital- 
ists never  finally  pay  any  interest,  they  simi)ly  charge  it  over 
in  the  fonn  of  liigher  prices.  Those  Avho  never  borrow  pay  all 
the  interest.  The  cost  of  living  has  now  risen  33  per  cent.,  wa- 
ges are  66f  cents.  In  ten  years,^interest  and  principal  double; 
wages  are  now  33^  cents  a  day.  In  twenty  years,  interest  and 
principal  quadruple  and  Avages  are  33^  cents  less  than  nothing! 

But,  actually,  this  result  is  sooner  reached.  As  production 
advances  money  must  increase.  But  there  is  only  so  much  to 
be  had.     Credit  must  therfore  be  substituted,  and  debt  incur- 

*THE  TRUE  INWARDNESS.    A  Farmer  discounis,  at  the  bank,  his  note  of  $loOO 
or  $900.,  what  really  occuris? 

(1)  They  exchang  •  notes.  (2)  Both  notes  promise  gold  dollars,  but  neither  has 
any.  (3)  Intrinsically,  one  note  is  as  good  as  the  other.  (4)  In  addition,  the  far- 
mer gives  to  the  banker  a  deed  of  trust  on  a  $.3X)0.  farm.  (5)  In  case  the  farmer 
fails  to  pay,  the  farm  can  redeem  the  banker's  (gold?)  and  if  the  bank  fails,  its  as- 
sets are  the  solvency  of  its  patrons,  therefore,  (6)  The  real  specific  basis  of  the 
bank  is  the  farmer".-*  security.  (7>  Redeeming  another's  money  ix  equivalent  toissu- 
ing  one'g  own.  (8)The  farmer  then  gives  his  money  away,  to  buy  it  back!  (9) 
The  banker  draws  interest  on  what  he  owes.  (10)  The  shave  of  S  00.  was  for  hand- 
ling the  farmer's  money.  (11)  All  the  farmer  lucked  to  issue  it,  was  the  machin. 
ery.  (12)  For  questioning  the  right  to  monopolize  this  machine,  so  that  the  far- 
mer can  save  his  interest,  danger  signals  are  sounded,  and  yon  are  denounced  as  a 
•'wild  cat,"  a"red  dog"  and  u  ■'communist." 

During  the  war  the  government  desired  to  move  a  box  of  hard  tack  from  an  Illi- 
nois farmc^rto  a  wounded  soldier.  But  there  was  no  medium  of  exchange.  So  we 
go  over  and  b  rrow  Irorn  a  .Jewish  broker  a  lump  of  gold,  giving  therefor  an  inter. 
CMt-bearing  bond,  wiih  the  fiirnier  and  soldier  as  bondsmen,  through  whom  the 
hard  tack  has  been  i)ai(l  back  three  times.  The  interest  on  all  the  Ijonds  being 
many  times  the  value  of  all  the  slaves  over  which  the  war  was  waged  ! 

W.  II.  Vanderbilt  owns  §47,0.)  ,0  '■.  in  U.  S.  bonds,  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  o' 
$l,88.5,(Ko  per  annum,  or  88.-'»8  per  minute. 
Congress  has  189  bankers  to  l.T  farmers,  yet  there  are  four  farmers  to  one  banker. 
"Pay  your  National  debt  in  17  installments  of  interest,  at  Cpercent." — A.  Johnson. 


CO-OPERATION.  17 

red,  until  there  are  many  times  as  much  owed  as  there  is  cash 
with  which  to  pay  it.  So  that  by  the  fifth  year,  whatever  the 
crops,  times  begin  to  grow  "Aarc?/"  By  the  seventh  year,  with 
wages  at  a  minimum,  capital  fails  to  make  its  accustomed  div- 
idend. The  mills  shut  down  and  a  corner  is  made  on  the  con  - 
sumer,  which  is  facetiously  termed  '•'•overproduction!''''  But  turn- 
ing people  out  of  employment  is  not  the  quickest  way  to  make 
them  consume.  So  business  becomes  blocked,  it  cannot  sur- 
mount usury,  engagements  go  by  default,  failure  ensues,  confi- 
dence is  lost,  and  d,  panic  begins,  during  which  the  people  are 
sold  out  for  33  cents  on  the  dollar.  Hard  pan  is  now  reached, 
and  at  a  nominally  lower  rate,  the  machine  is  wound  up  again! 

Pow&'  of  Usury. — If  only  one  dollar  had  been  loaned,  at  a 
simple,  6  per  cent,  interest,  when  Christ  \\'as  born,  it  would  have 
now  more  than  eaten  up  the  entire  world  of  solid  gold!  Can 
anything  be  more  conclusive,  that  interest  is  a  legal  fiction? 
What  an  awful  gnaAving  upon  the  vitals  of  labor  must  there 
have  been  through  every  dollar!  There  is  no  rate  of  interest, 
but  what,  when  compounded,  will  devour  all  property,  enslave 
all  men  and  finally  destroy  itself!  If  Vanderbilt's  income  is  $50. 
per  minute,  and  his  brakemen's  Si.  per  day,  what  is  to  become 
of  the  train  of  human  destiny  by  the  time  W.  H.  V.  Jr.  begins 
to  crawl  out  of  has  cradle?  The  public  will  surely  by  that  time 
be 'damned,'  with  Malthus  to  carry.  Every  |1,000.  of  teaser,  in 
Western  Union,  commands  the  seiwices  of  an  operator;  loaned 
for  50  years,  at  15  percent.,  it  would  be  worth  more  than  20 
skilled  mechanics,  at  $3.  per  day;  making  them  bring  but  $50. 
apiece,  one  twentieth  the  price  of  an  ordinary  negro.  In- 
deed, it  was  recently  reported  that  Rothschild  had  an  incum- 
brance on  and  was  about  to  foreclose  the  Holy  Land! 

The  monopoly  of  money  is,  literally,  the  monopoly  of  every- 
thing that  money  will  buy.  Kent  tells  where  one  may  work, 
interest,  xoheii^  how  long,  and  what  one  must  receive.  Between 
these  two  mill  stones,  labor  is  completely  crushed.  The 
more  it  writhes  and  struggles,  the  more  deplorable  its  lot, 
imtil  it  costs  less  to  keep  the  average  worker  than  the  average 
convict. 

"O  tull  them  in  their  palaces. 
These  lords  of  land  and  money. 
They  must  not  kill  the  poor  like  bees, 
To  rob  them  of  life's  honey."' 


18  THE     SUN. 

THE  PROFIT  MAKING  SYSTEM. 

We  here  pass  the  tariff  monopoly  of  43  per  cent.,  corners  on 
coal,  corn,  pork,  wheat,  sugar,  oil  and  the  staples;  on  transpor- 
tation, telegraphy,  patent  rights,  &c.,  to  speak  of  profit  making 
as  a  system.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  society  cannot  specu- 
late off  from  itself.  If  one  charges  his  neighbor  something 
for  nothing,  it  comes  back  to  him  again  in  a  circle.  Profit 
thus  abolishes  profit.  While  each  one  gains  nothing,  all  lose. 
But  under  the  cost  system,  while  none  lose,  all  indirectly  gain. 
Count  then  the  waste  under  profit.  If  there  is  room  for  but  one 
lealer,  he  makes  a  monoj^oly.  Soon  there  gets  to  be  two,  when 
they  have  to  raise  prices.  A  third  comes,  and  they  form  a 
'pool',  a  fourth  causes  bankruptcy.  Every  city  directory  now 
illustrates  this  state  of  affairs.  Moreover,  note  the  cost  in  dis- 
play, rent  and  advertising.     The  consumer  pays  all  the  bills.' 

But,  greatest  of  all,  is  the,  demoralization  attending  profit. 
Under  cost,  the  interests  of  buyer  and  seller  are  identical, 
under  profit,  antagonistic.  One  has  one  price,  the  measure  of 
justice,  the  other  has  many,  measuring  the  gullibility  of  its 
customers.  One  serves,  the  other  trades.  Trader,  traitor 
and  traducer  all  come  from  the  same  word.  Robbery,  once 
the  respectable  profession  of  pirates  and  freebooters,  is  now 
the  pastime  of  bulls  and  bears.  Secrecy,  deception,  lying, 
cunning,  'tricks  of  trade,'  'shop-made  goods,'  adulterations, 
overproduction,  failures,  strikes,  panics,  lawsuits,  wars,  all  are 
begotten  by  the  profit  making  system. 


TIOLA TTONS  OF  LIBERTY. 

MAJORITY  RULE 

BY  majority  rule,  we  do  not  mean  a  majority  vote,  which 
selects  between  two  necessary  evils,  for  nobody's  liberty  .is 
thereby  infringed.  We  mean  the  coercive  power  of  numbers, 
indeed,  a  mere  comparison  of  numbers,  for  Avhat  constitutes  a 
majority  in  one  place  or  at  one  time  is  a  minority  at  another 
place  and  time.     The  same  number  that  it  takes  to  elect  one 


CO-OPERATION.  19 

to  office  in  one  town  niiglit  defeat  liini  in  tlie  next,  and  if  a 
third  candidate  be  in  the  field,  a  minority  can  elect  its  man, 
while  the  majority  go  unrepresented.  What  is  the  real  signifi- 
cance of  8  over  7  ?  Of  course  the  8  rule  and  the  Y  are  ruined 
until  1  goes  over,  when  the  8  are  ruined  and  the  7  rule,  all  by 
a  majority  of  one!  \Yhat  an-  inviting  field,  where  vested 
interests  are  at  stake,  for  bribery,  lying,  blackmail,  bulldozing, 
jerrymandering  and  'returning  boards!'  Some  call  these  the 
corruption  of  the  ballot  box,  but  they  seem  to  us  to  logically 
flow  from  the  rule  of  the  majority. 

Now  since  all  admit  that  thei-e  should  be  some  limit  to  ma- 
jority rule,  the  only  question  is  what  shall  it  be  if  not  the  equal 
liberty  of  all?  For,  che  last  minority,  by  the  next  step  of  liber- 
ty, is  expecting  soon  to  be  in  the  majority.  The  equal  sover- 
eignty of  all,  will  then  be  the  last  majority.  Politics  follow 
Protestantism;  as  George  the  Third  was  Pope,  so  now  major- 
ity rule  is  our  political  Bible.  But  every  new  protester 
destroys  its  authority  in  favor  of  equal  sovereignty.  Yox 
popull  vox  Dei,  means  the  voice  of  Liberty,  each  and  every 
one  of  the  people,  not  that  of  a  mere  majority.  Majorities  are 
always  wrong.  God  speaks  only  to  individuals.  "One  with 
God  is  a  majority." 

CO-OPERATIOX  versii^s.  C  ORPORATION. 

Co-operation  is  a  natural  Avord,  corporation  is  a  legal  one. 
One  is  free,  voluntary,  spontaneous:  the  other  is  chartered  to 
act  as  one  body.  But  co-operation  has  all  the  strength  there 
is  in  each  individual  and,  when  occasion  arises,  can  act  as  one 
man.  Why  then  become  incorporated  so  that,  whether  you 
will  or  not,  you  are  obliged  to  act  as  one  man?  In  order  to 
exclusively  control,  for  private  gain,  nature's  resources  and  so- 
ciety's social  franchises,  such  as  the  use  of  water,  gas,  trans- 
portation, banking  <fcc.  It  is  an  artificial,  legal,  man  of  straw, 
with  powers  and  privileges  legislated  into  him,  which  are 
denied  to  the  natural  man.  In  being  addicted  to  stealing  from 
the  public,  it  soon  learns,  tlirough  a  ring  within  a  ring,  to  steal 
from  itself.  What  possible  benefit  can  the  whole  people^ 
under  co-operation,  derive  from  a  cliarter  save  what  is  already 
granted  by  nature  under  the  right  of  private  contract?       They 


20  TEE     SUN. 

seek  no  profit,  nor  any  limitation  to  tlieir  liabilities,     If  some 
can  live  by  act  of  Congress,  others  will  have  to  steal  or  stance. 

GOVERNAIENT  CONTROL. 

Government  control,  is  offered  as  a  substitute  for  what  is 
called  the  'corruption  of  corporations,'  but  this  would  be  jump- 
ing from  the  fiying  pan  into  the  fire.  Is  not  the  government 
a  corporation,  the  father  and  boss  of  all  the  rest?  Better  a 
thousand  ordinary  corjiorations,  than  one  governmental  corpo- 
ration, for  there  would  then  be  some  room  for  competition. 
What  if  the  government  should  run  the  roads  'at  cost,'  at  whose 
cost?  unless  it  be  at  the  people's  cost. 

GOVERNMENT  REGULATION. 

But,  is  it  asked,  are  not  public  functions  amenable  to  govern- 
ment regulation?  But  the  selling  of  a  paper  of  needles  is  a 
social  function,  which  brought  A.  T.  Stewart  as  exorbitant  a 
revenue  as  that  of  any  bank  president.  Publishing  the  N.  Y. 
Herald  is  a  social  function,  dependent  too  upon  the  small  earn- 
ings of  the  poor,  yet  its  editor  connnands  a  salary  larger  than 
that  of  all  the  Presidents  combined.  Should  Bennett  and  Stew- 
art therefore  be  regulated  by  the  constable?  What  principle  of 
liberty  have  they  violated?  Whom  have  they  injured?  Not 
then,  on  socialistic  grounds,  can  governmental  interference  be 
justified. 

But  it  may  be  farther  claimed  that  exclusive  monopoly  leads 
to  extortion,  that  there  cannot  well  be  but  one  gas  company, 
one  water  works,  one  telegraph  and  railroad  between  two 
points,  one  pass  through  mountain  canyons,  one  Iloosac  tunnel, 
one  Panama  canal,  any  more  than  there  can  be  more  than  one 
Atlantic  ocean  or  Mississii)pi  river;  to  block  up  these,  would  be 
a  crime,  to  make  exorbitant  charges,  would  be  robbery,  tliere- 
fore,  they  should  be  regulated.  Quite  true,  but  the  regulation 
of  a  thing  implies  the  legitimacy  of  the  thing  regulated.  We 
do  not  regulate  the  small  pox  but  quarantine  and  abolish  it. 
So  of  corporations,  their  monojjoly  rests  in  legislative  pi'ivilege; 
it  cannot  be  regulated,  it  must  be  revoked. 


CO-OPERATION.  21 

But,  aside  from  their  legal  franchise,  corporations  are  com- 
posed of  individuals,  a  natural  product,  as  such,  they  must 
be  reorulated  in  a  natural  manner.  How  can  this  be  done  save 
by  letting  them  alone?  To  interfere  with  their  business  is  an 
unwarranted  violation  of  the  right  of  private  contract.  Con- 
gress cannot  regulate  nature.  Efforts  at  regulating  the  rates 
of  interest  have  only  tended  to  raise  the  price  of  money.  So 
of  the  hours  of  labor,  they  can  no  more  be  regulated  by  legisla. 
tion,  than  the  rising  and  the  setting  of  the  sun.  Only  the  organ, 
ization  of  industry  can  do  that.  Did  every  Trades  Union  in  the 
country  to-morrow  get  ten  hours  pay  for  eight  hours  work,  they 
would  relatively  be  no  better  off,  for  the  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  cost  of  production  would  leave  their  lot  the  same. 
This  regulating  business  is  government's  chief  delight.  Hav- 
ing first  created  inequality  of  conditions,  it  further  likes  to 
tinker  at  them,  until  like  quack  doctors,  it  lives  off  of  the 
diseases  its  own  medicines  make. 

Wherein  then,  upon  last  analysis,  is  the  touchstone  of 
criminality,  for  instance,  in  a  railroad  corporation,  justifying 
governmental  interference?  It  lies  in  the  monopoly  of  the 
roadbed.  These  are  piiblic  highways.  But,  do  you  ask  us  if 
we  expect  to  release  this  monopoly  through  a  set  of  lawless 
bar-room  sprawlers  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac?  We  answer 
no.  There  are  more  natural,  direct  and  potent  agencies, 
through  which  to  regulate  both  Congress  and  the  corporations. 

CODIFYING  THE  LAWS. 

If  the  State  cannot  rccfulate  nature,  can  it  make  her  laws? 
What  is  a  law?  We  speak  of  the  laws  of  matter  as  uni- 
form modes  of  motion.  They  are  natural^  inherent,  universal. 
Thou  shalt  not  injure  thy  neighbor  is  the  law  of  justice  It 
is  inherent  and  born  of  experience:  had  it  come  from  outward 
authority,  history  would  not  have  presented  the  spectacle  t)f  all 
progress  being  a  rebellion  against  authority.  If  there  is  no 
universality  in  the  law  of  justice  there  can  be  no  equality  be- 
fore it.  The  penalty  also,  for  the  violation  of  the  natural  law 
of  justice  follows,  as  a  natural  consequence. 

Now  note  the  operation  and  effect  of  all  man-made  lavs. 
Since  things  are  intrinsically  right  and  wrong  in  themselves, 


22  TEE     SUN. 

any  outside  calling  tliem  so  cannot  alter  the  fact,  either  more  or 
less.  Since  the  authority  of  the  law  is  internal,  not  even  God 
himself  can  add  to  its  obligation.  Therefore  any  declaratory 
jDart,  however  perfect,  has  not  only  no  force  or  operation  what- 
ever, but  to  im))0se  its  outward  authority,  violates  liberty. 

But  this  is  not  all,  it  obstructs  the  free  and  full  execution  of 
the  natural  law.  Not  being  inherent,  it  is  inapplicable  and 
gives  rise  to  endless  constructions,  interpretations,  and  amend- 
ments. Ethics  become  confused,  litigation  arises  and  a  legal 
hierarchy  is  instituted.  Technicalities  spread  a  net  for  the 
unwary,  allowing  the  guilty  to  escape.  The  interpolation  of 
justice  has  become  its  travesty.  The  law,  being  no  longer 
universal,  saints  and  sinners,  legally  speaking,  become  inter- 
changeable, with  the  geography  of  the  country. 

But,  worse  still,  the  penalty  of  the  law,  also,  becomes  most 
arbitrary  and  unnatural.  For,  whoever  heard  of  nature  send- 
ing the  gout,  for  a  sprained  ankle?  Or  for  the  violation  of 
one  member,  condemning  the  wj/iofebody! 

But,  do  not  the  complex  relations  of  our  civilization  demand 
certain  rules  and  regulations?  Yes,  and  have  we  not  got  them 
in  the  customs  and  usages  of  the  common  laxo'i  Thev  have  not 
come  doM'n  from  the  State  house,  but  vip  from  the  people.  We 
certainly  do  not  need  any  "Be  it  enacted,"  as  a  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord!"  Out  of  the  47  state  law  factories,  with  an  annual  prod- 
uct of  about  5000  laws,  we  are  unable  to  find  more  than  half 
a  dozen  that  concern  the  whole  State,  such  as  the  state  alms 
house,  hospital  tfec,  and  these  could  be  much  more  economic- 
ally provided  for,  through  voluntary  co-operation.  The  rest, 
omitting  those  usurping  local  jurisdiction  and  amendatory  of 
former  blunders,  are  really  for  private  gain,  though  profess- 
ing to  be  for  the  public  good. 

The  laws  are  but  the  enactment  of  the  peoples'  prejudices 
and  their  administration,  the  enforcement  of  their  wills.  Law- 
yers ought  to  be  saints,  if  handling  the  laws  makes  one  such.* 
There  is  hardly  an  epithet  too  degrading  for  onr  neighbor,  who 
is  limning  for  ottice,  until  he  is  elected  our  law-maker! 

•rherere  are  three  kindn  of  lawyers,  first,  those  who  possess  a  natural  sense  of  jus- 
tice, second,  thoHt;  who  work  f or  ii  client  to  win,  ihrough  hook  or  crook,  third,  those 
legal  vultures  who  prey  on  innocent  people. 

John  Smith  wii.-  so  trnnlilcd  with  JoncH'  turkeys  that  he  put  tliem  in  llie  i>()un(l. 
Smith  was  provoked  and  sued  for  damage,  wliich  the  judge  awarded,  on  the  ground 
that,  while  cattle,  sheep  and  geese  were  specified,  turkeys  were  unmentioned  '. 


CO-OPERATION.  23 

POLITICAL  MACHINERY. 

After  the  laws,  let  us  notice  what  influence  the  political  ma- 
chineiy  has  upon  liberty.  Its  theory  is  that  of  an  agency,  with 
the  people  as  principal.  But  whoever  heard  of  a  leading  firm 
becoming  partners  with  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry,  on  election 
day?  When  did  ever  a  business  firm  'set  up'  its  agent  at  a 
primaiy,  or  consider  itself  committed  to  the  verdict  of  a  ma- 
jority at  the  polls?  What  firm  allows  its  agent's  salary  to  be 
many  times  that  of  its  principal?  or  turns  him  loose,  without 
bonds  or  instnictions,  into  his  employer's  vineyard?  Even 
though  this  agent  be  caught  stealing,  he  can  only  be  white- 
washed! However  big  a  scoundrel,  he  cannot  be  discharged! 
whatever  be  his  record,  there  is  no  certainty  of  promotion! 
Then  there  is  the  presidential  agent  with  his  100,000  office  seek- 
ers. Certainly  this  kind  of  an  agency  is  not  the  one  recognized 
by  law  or  business.  What  then  is  it?  It  is  a^.  relic  of  kingly 
prerogative  and  arbitratry  power  .All  further  doubt  of  which 
Avill  be  expelled  when  it  is  remembered  that,  through  compul- 
sory taxation,  this  beautiful  agent  of  ours  does  not  allow  his 
principal  even  to  audit  his  own  accounts!  Should  he  attemjjt 
to  keep  the  books  of  the  firm,  this  SAveet  angel  of  an  agent 
would  pounce  upon  his  principal  with  a  whole  standing 
army  at  its  back,  shouting,  "Your  money  or  your  life!!"  The 
citizen  becomes  subordinate  to  the  soldier.  The  question  then 
seriously  arises  as  to  what  use  any  one  has  for  such  an  agency! 

THE  CO-OPERATOR'S  RELATION  TO  POLITICS. 

We  have  seen  that  government  can  create  nothing;  that 
it  does  not  generate,  only  eat;  that  it  cannot  make  character; 
but  in  turn  is  stamped  by  it;  that  it  contains  no  moral  power; 
and  that  without  public  opinion,  it  could  do  nothing.  What 
use,  then,  has  the  substance  for  the  shadow?  does  the  weather 
need  the  thermometer?  Politics  do  not  liberate  society,  soci- 
ety liberates  politics.  They  simply  show  how  far  the  peoi)le 
have  outgrown  their  superstition  and  can  govern  themselves.* 

♦There  is  no  need  of  the  natiunal  government  farther  than  to  protect  the  nationiil 
boundary.  A  wise  and  frugal  government  will  restrain  men  froui  injuring  one 
another,  leaving  t)iem  otherwise  free  to  regulate  Iheir  own  pursuits  of  industry  and 
improvements,  taking  not  from  the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread  it  has  earned. •/»;irer»o/(. 


24  THE     SUN. 

Now,  in  tliis  work,  there  are  but  two  parties.  One  is  thej^ar- 
ty  of  liberty,  complete  and  logical,  and  the  other  is  the  party  of 
authority,  complete  and  logical.  One  i)oints  to  God  in  the  Con- 
stitution, 'a  strong  government,'  with  an  informer  and  a  spy  in 
every  house.  The  other  leads  to  self  government,  to  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence  and  Co-operation.  Between  these 
two  there  can  be  no  middle  ground.  They  are  as  antipodal  as 
the  poles.  Are  there  any  so  toothless  as  to  suppose  that  there 
can  be  a  compromise  of  methods? 

But  it  may  be  asked,  is  not  the  ballot  the  American  method? 
Did  it  not  free  the  slave?  Is  it  not  the  present  method  of 
political  education?  And  may  not  proj)ortional  representation 
be  gained  through  a  majority  vote? 

But  proportional  representation,  instead  of  being  gained  by 
majority  rule,  is,  in  so  far,  its  abrogation.  As  the  half-way 
house  however,  between  tyranny  and  liberty,  it  is  indefensible. 
In  the  face  of  the  principle  of  liberty,  representation,  by  per- 
sons, may  be  just  as  tyrannical  as  that  of  places.  And  so  far 
from  majority  rule  being  the  means  of  political  education,  is 
not  rather  the  end  of  political  education  to  escape  from  it? 

And  as  for  majority  rule  having  freed  the  slaves,  the  oppo- 
site occured.  The  tyrannical  mandate  of  party  faction  did 
bring  on  the  war  but  it  did  not  free  the  slave,  tlie  slave  freed 
it.  As  to  the  method  of  the  ballot  being  American,  it  was 
not  used  by  the  Tea  Spillers  nor  does  the  Declaration  seem  to 
countenance  it.  After  a  hundred  years  of  voting,  the  country 
through  this  centralized  power,  is  in  the  clutches  of  the  worst 
monopolies.  What  then  has  the  ballot  done  for  labor?  "What 
has  it  done  for  Ireland?  AVliat  is  it  now  doinj;  for  the  neirro, 
for  our  large  cities?  Indeed,  so  vital  is  the  governmental  sitle 
of  co-operation,  that  it  cannot  move  a  step  on  the  majority  rule 
hypothesis,  it  separates  friend  from  f<je,  lie  who  would  forego 
co-operative  for  political   methods  must  be  a  fool  or  a  knave. 

But,  to  the  co-operator,  there  need  come  no  disapi)ointment. 
No  more  promises  for  him,  green  in  the  bud,  but  l)lasted  in  thi. 
fuUillment.  No  more  deception  of  the  money  power  mas(|uer- 
ailiiig  behind  ])olitical  parties.  No  more  obfuscation  of  labor 
that  it  can  get  something  for  nothing  through  the  legislature 
without  having  jtaid  for  it  twice.  No  more  voting  for  a  man 
you  do  not  know,  to  do  he  knows  not  what.     No  more  waiting, 


tO-OJrERATION.  25 

compromising,  swapping,  deceiving.  Vale,  then,  the  "setting 
wyf  at  tlie  Primarv,  the  imbecile  harangue,  the  "striker",  tlie 
political  trick!  Vale  the  saloon  influence,  the  demagogue,  the 
lobbyist  and  the  law  maker!  Have  we  not  the  people,  public 
opinion,  social  and  business  organization?  to  seek  expression 
through  the  legislature,  would  not  only  be  slavish  but  suicidal. 

When  the  C;hurch  is  social  worth. 
When  the  State  house  is  the  hearth  , 
Then  the  perfect  state  has  come. 
The  republican  at  home. 

The  position  then,  of  the  co-operator  is  to  rigidly  abstain 
from  the  j)olls.  He  cannot  possibly  use  political  methods.  Ac- 
cept what  the  different  parties  say  of  each  other,  as  the  truth 
about  all,  including  the  last;  for  it  is  majority  rule  that  consti- 
tutes every  party's  platform.  The  ballot  is  the  high  art  of  not 
minding  one's  o.vn  business.  Polling  booths  are  approved 
appliances  for  herding  American  cattle.  Every  voter  is,of  ne- 
cessity, not  only  a  slave,  but  a  slave  drivei*.  The  people  think 
they  vote,  when  through  the  machine,  they  are  only  voted  Be- 
cause they  are  allowed  a  majority  vote,  is  no  sign  that  they  are 
represented.  A  majority  vote,  where  noses  are  counted  instead 
of  weighed,  is  only  a  government  of  rats.  The  great  American 
fallacy  is  in  supposing  that,  having  the  form  for  the  substance, 
such  is  a  government  of  democrats. 

But,  to  be  practical,  the  government  exists  for  property  in- 
stead of  personal  rights,  does  it  not?  How  then  can  you  escape 
from  the  dilemma  of  buying  votes?  And  are  not  these  substan- 
tially owned  already  by  being  in  the  clutches  of  the  usury  sys- 
tem? Besides,  you  have  got  to  get  a  majority  of  noses  all  over 
the  States,  if  it  takes  a  hundred  years,  before  any  locality  can 
call  its  soul  Its  own.  And  supposing  you  get  the  requisite 
number,  numbers  do  not  settle  a  principle,  they  rest  on  force, 
and  where  great  vested  interests  are  to  be  jeopardized  by  the 
mere  triumph  of  numbers,  a  resort  to  force  is  inevitable  On 
the  other  hand,  where  there  is  an  inordinate  reverence  for  the 
governmental  Moloch,  civil  toar  ensues!  A  tie  between  some 
future  Butler  and  lilaine,  as  at  Lincoln's  election,  will  precip- 
itate such  a  result.  The  ballot  box,  then,  leads  to  the  cartridge 
box.     They  are  the  rich  man's  tool  and  the  poor  man's  ti-ap. 

Then,  in  the  first  place,  majority  rule  for  labor  cannot  be  ob- 


26  TEE     SUN. 

tained,  second,  it  would  not  be  wanted,  if  it  could.  It  is  worth- 
less in  the  nature  of  things.  And  if  it  was  either  desirable  or 
obtainable,  it  could  not  be  executed  under  the  present  business 
agencies.  The  labor  question, primarily,  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  politics,  but  of  dollars  and  cents,  of  business  and 
book-keeping.  And  need  it  further  be  shown  that  the  organ- 
ization of  the  almighty  dollar  wields  a  far  greater  power  than 
the  ballot?  The  seat  of  government  is  reallj'^  no  longer  in  Wash- 
ington, but  in  Wall  street.  The  President  may  be  in  position, 
but,  whichever  party  rules,  Gould  is  in  power.  Steam  and  elec- 
tricity already  have  divested  government  of  its  sovereignty. 
It  is  then  the  organization  of  industry  that  is  needed,  and  the 
cZisorganization  of  politics.* 

If  to  morrow,  government  were  perfect,  and  immaculate,  it 
would  make  no  difference,  business  would  all  the  same  have  to 
be  reorganized,  by  the  people  tliemselves,  before  they  cease 
to  be  cheated.  Bu^,,  the  moment  this  is  done,  instantly  politics 
become  obsolete.  They  are  always  on  the  side  of  the  loaves 
and  fishes.     The  mill  stops  running,  when  the  water  goes  dry. 

CO-OPERATIVE  METHODS  ALL  POWERFUL. 

The  methods  of  liberty  are  her  ends.  Instead  of  voting^ 
petitioning,  praying,  organize  to  immediately  enter  in  and 
take  possession  of  all  the  rights  and  iiniiimiilies  of  self  gov- 
ernment. This  is  the  simple,  the  direct,  the  i^eaceable  and 
self  respecting  way.  It  is  also  the  concrete  Avay,  easily  taught 
and  immediately  remunerative.  It  is  nature's  way,  therefore 
the  necessary  and  on/i/  one.  Do  you  doubt  your  business 
ability?  That  is  just  what  capital  says  is  the  matter  with 
you!  Are  the  people  not  yet  ready?  That  is  but  confirming 
the  verdict  of  the  aristocrats  of  all  ages! 

The  way  to  ac(piire  one's  rights  is  to  use  them.     Outside  gov- 

*Politic8  come  from  the  Hiime  word  iiH})oUct/,  and  demagogue  too,  is  a  word  in  diw- 
repute:  prjliticB  being  tabooed  in  well  orlered  nociety.  '"As  licentious  as  a 
prievt;  art  gluttonous  as  a  priest;  as  greedy  as  a  priest,"  was  once  a  current 
remark.  Now  it  is  "as  tricky  as  ii  i)()liticiiiii ;  as  unreliable  as  a  politician  ;  as 
';orrupt  as  a  politician."  "No  man,  who  has  a  reputation  at  stake,  will  comiiromiKe 
it  by  running  for  Cougress,"  says  president  Kliot  of  Harvard  college.  Congress 
is  the  standing  joke  <)f  the  country,  '"Is  lliat  thing  running  still  !■'■  and  '"Now  that 
it  has  adj.)iirned.  we  may  e.\i)cct  a  season  of  prosperity,"  are  heard.  Preesidntial 
slection  year  i  s  called  ''thi'  o/Tyear"  in  l)usin('ss. 


CO-OPERATION.  27 

ernment  is  then  impossible.  Failing  to  do  this,  one  deserves 
to  be  a  slave,  for  all  the  abuses  of  government  are  thus 
invited  and  made  necessary.  What  folly,  standing  on  the  out- 
side preaching,  while  the  dog  is  on  the  inside  eating,  or  idly 
complaining  of  the  best  there  is,  while  lifting  not  a  finger 
to  supply  anything  better. 

Nothing  can  cope  with  the  power  of  peaceable,  passive  resist 
ance  in  the  exercise  of  one's  rights.  Through  an  arbitrary  law 
you  may  'drive  a  coach  and  four,'  but  all  the  powers  of  nature 
reinfoi'ce  those  who  co-operate  with  her.  Possession,  by  exer- 
cise, is  every  point  of  the  law.  No  outside,  arbitrary  power 
can  reach  it,  to  attempt  it  would  be  like  fighting  the  elements 
the  sea,  tire,  air,  electricity. 

Let  us  cease  then,  longer  leaning  on  the  arms  of  paternal 
government;  let  us  no  more  be  deluded  with  the  sophistry  of 
the  economists.  Let  us  begin  at  our  own  doors  and  organize 
business  on  a  labor  instead  of  a  usury  basis.  Let  us  stuj)  divi- 
ding, by  closing  the  holes  whereby  the  producer  fails  to  get 
what  he  produces. 

Where  we  now  come  in  contact  with  the  usury  system  and 
support  it,  let  us  begin,  with  consumption,  and  organize  a  sup- 
ply department,  by  pooling  our  custom,  and  selling  it  to  our- 
selves, at  cost.  This  is  the  outlet  of  the  old  and  inlet  to  the  new. 
Having  a  place  where  a  solvent  currency  can  be  redeemed, 
in  everything  that  money  can  buy,  upon  the  property  of 
the  members,  as  a  bank  of  issue,  mutual  banking  begins  and 
interest  is  abolished.  Government  cannot  prevent  the  people 
effecting  their  own  exchanges,  while  1)7  per  cent,  of  them  are 
already  being  accomplished  with  commercial  jiaper. 

Having  a  free  currency  and  a  store  needing  sujjplies,  produc- 
tion, manufacturing,  self  employment,  follow.  There  being 
no  dividends,  the  interests  of  labor  and  capital  are  identical. 

We  have  now  a  conij^lete  epitome  of  business,  consumi)tion 
production  and  exchange:  the  bank,  the  store,  the  farm  and 
factory;  Avhose  superior  organization  must  draw  all  other 
stoi'es,  banks  and  factories  to  it. 

Let  the  tariff  monpolists  keep  up  their  own  establishments. 

If  a  bonus  is  to  be  paid  to  capital,  the  consumers  must  share  it. 

Let  the  people   organize    a   blind  pool,   to  build  up    thit 

road,  to  bankrupt  that,  to  bid  in  its  stock,  get  straddle  of  its 


28  TEE     SUN. 

directory,  squeeze  out  its  water,  and  run  one  road  at  cost.  In- 
deed, they  have  so  lavishly  built  and  giv^en  away  so  many, 
roads,  one  would  suppose  that  they  could  afford  to  build  one/ 
Let  it  run  from  Kansas  to  Virginia,  via  Harper's  Ferry.  Of 
course  there  would  be  no  tariff  on  rails,  nor  interest  on  bonds, 
hardly  any  labor  even,  for  the  army  of  strikers  and  tramps 
could  lend  a  hand,  and  without  money,  since  the  farmers  have 
plenty  of  supplies!  Why  always  dream  of  free  travel  when 
it  only  requires  the  guarantee  of  one's  custom  to  obtain  it? 
Moreover,  selling  'short'  in  Yanderbilt's  lines  might  leave  a 
handsome  bonus  besides! 

Then,  too,  the  laborers  of  'New  York,  Boston  and  Fall  River, 
who  have  so  often  in  rent,  rebuilt  those  cities,  could  move  down 
to  Fortress  Monroe!  It  does  not  take  forty  years  of  wander- 
ing now  to  find  a  Paradise.  What,  the  outlook  for  labor  des- 
ultory? The  air  is  full  of  j^romise.  Everything  conspires  for 
it  to  take  posesssion  of  its  own.  Already  the  old  usury  sys- 
tem is  asking  for  a  receiver.  Fear  not  then  monopoly,  the 
fittest  survives,  and  the  monopoly  of  capital,  antagonistically 
organized  with  itself,  can  never  compete  with  labor  harmoni- 
onaly  organized.  All  hail,  then,  the  world's  creators, — nature's 
aristocrats;  to  hell  with  the  drones  in  the  human  hive.  Fear, 
force  and  fraud  have  had  their  day.  Welcome,  Liberty, 
Equity  and  Light,  harbingers  of  Universal  Co-operation  ! 

"  The  greatct^t  vantage  for  humanity 
Is  this,  that  each  does  everything  for  all, 
And  each  in  turn  receives  froni.al)  the  same. 

How  little  one  contributes  to  the  whole 

How  much  however  one  receives  from  all  I 

How  little  more  is  needed  after  all 

For  concord  bliss  and  peace. 

Than  the  will  of  all 

To  seek  in  life  itself  the  good  of  each  I" 


'^PEOHIBITION;" 

OR  THE  KELA llON  OF 

goyeb:n]mji:nt  to  temperance 


The  most  important  question  of  the  hour  is  what  is  the  proper  function  and 
province  of  government. 

THE  Proliibitionist  holds  that  iutemperance  is  the  great  and 
ci-ying  ftvil  of  our  time  ;  that  it  is  the  direct  cause  of  much 
of  our  taxation,  and  most  of  our  crime,  therefore  the  State 
should  interfere  to  suppress  it. 

SUPPRESSION  OF  EVILS. 

Now  no  one  dispiites  the  evil  of  intemperance,  suppose  we  call 

it  the  greatest  of  evils.     If  government  can  or  ought  to  suppress  the 

greatest,  then  it  should  tr}^  its  hand  at  the  next  in  importa  nee.     If 

two  pigs  are  tearing  up  the  sward  in  your  yard  is  there  any  i-eason 

why,  while  driving  out  the  one  that  weighs  one  hundred  pounds, 

you  should  leave  the  other,  which  counts  ninety  and  nine  ?     That 

would  be  a  discrimination  only  against  one  pound  of  rooting !     If 

the  greatest  evil  can  and  ought  to  be  suppressed,  then  the  next 

gi-eatest  evil  can  and  ought  to  be  supi)ressed.      The  Living  Issue 

says,   "There  was  consumed  last  year  in  the  United  States  3,  212,- 

000,000  cigars.     This  twin  brother  of  the  drink  curse  will  demand 

the  same  methods  now  advocated  by  the  Prohibitionists.     The  pi-in- 

ciple  will  be  settled  as  to  alcohol,  and  then  may  be  easily  extended 

to  include  all  such  useless  and  destructive  agents.''      The  Living 

Issue  is  both  logical  and  consistent,  and  the  Christian  Statesman 

ah-eadv  reports  a  law,  in  Kansas,  to  the  eflect  that  no  dealer  shall 

sell  tobacco  to  a  person  under  sixteen  years  of  age.     The  'old  man' 

will  now  have  to  go  and  get  it  himself,  which  serves  him  right ! 


2  PROEIBITION. 

Tobacco  is  a  poison  far  more  dirty  and  deadly  than  wiiiskey. 
Unquestionably  its  nse  is  a  'great  evil,'  the  useless  expenditure  for 
which  would  support  all  the  schools  and  churches.  Supposing  only 
12,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  use  tobacco  and  these  spend 
but  five  cents  per  day,  the  annual  expenditure  would  amount  to  over 
$20,000,000.  And  it  is  well  known  that  the  unnatural  thivst  and 
craving,  born  from  the  stimulation  of  tobacco,  calls  for  the  use  of 
strong  drink.  If  then,  on  the  ground  of  the  evil,  one  should  be 
suppressed,  the  other  ought  to  be. 

Tea  and  Coffee  are  evils  quite  as  wide  spread  and  insinuating, 
if  not  .so  palpable,  as  the  evil  of  intoxicating  drink.  The  American 
indulo-es  in  it  for  the  same  reason  that  the  French  and  German  use 
their  extract  of  grapes  and  of  barley.  On  the  ground  of  evils,  I 
see  no  reason  why  one  should  be  suppressed  and  the  other  not. 
Tea  and  coffee  are  no  more  a  necessity  than  tobacco,  and  it  proba- 
bly costs  the  people  four  times  as  much.  Then  there  are  patent 
medicines  which  are  a  gi-eat  evil,  being  often  times  but  a  mere  dis- 
guise of  the  drinking  habit  itself.  These  of  course  should  be 
suppressed. 

Evils  of  Eating. — But  if  what  is  drank  is  so  injurious  to  society 
how  much  more  so  are  the  evils  of  eating  ?  How  can  the  dividing 
line  be  drawn  when  the  use  of  intoxicating  di-inks  follow  a  diseased 
ai)petite  ?  The  bar  naturally  succeeds  the  table's  cuisine.  Where 
a  few  die  of  delirium  tremens,  all  dig  tJieir  graves  with  their  teeth. 
The  race  dies,  on  an  average  before  thirty  years  of  age,  and  half 
before  they  are  seventeen,  all  brouglit  about,  directly  or  indirectly, 
through  the  stomach.  If  governmental  interference  is  justifiable, 
on  the  ground  that  a  tiling  is  an  evil,  wliat  better  argument  could 
the  disciples  of  Trail  and  Jack.son  and  Graham  have  for  abolishing, 
at  one  fell  swoop  by  act  of  Congress,  or  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution, the  use  of  meat  and  pastry  ? 

Evih  of  Dress  m  s(mie  respects  outdo  the  evils  of  eating  and 
drinking.  What  more  heart  rending  subject  to  contemplate  tiian 
the  corset!  Consid(!r  all  the  vital  functions  compressed  into  the 
.smallest  sjjace,  tlu;  lower  portion  of  tlie  lungs  in  disuse,  and  the 
ril)S  lapping  each  other ;  is  tlierc  not  here  a  suljject  for  legislators 
to  pondtu-  upon  ?  And  in  order  tliat  the  law  may  be  faithfully  exe- 
cuted, should  not  the  District  attorney  be  empowered,  upon  suspi- 
cion or  complaint  of  a  member  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  to  visit  any  house 
and  diligently  search  it?  Most  assuredly  he  should;  if  any  law 
should  l)e  nuide  against  an  evil,  it  should  be  executed. 

Hpirihial  Evils.— Bui  what  are  bodily  ills  compared  to  the  evils 
which  prey  upon  the  .soul.      Wiiat  a  far  reaching  evil  is  that  of 


EVIL  OF  SUPPEESSION.  3 

wrong  preuatal  conditions,  passing  its  inilueiice  along  through  he- 
redity. Recently,  in  Boston,  the  city  of  purity  and  cultuie,  175 
babes  were  exhumed  from  the  sewers.  But  when  the  'paternal' 
nature  of  our  government  is  full}'^  understood,  nothing  more  of  that 
character  need  to  be  feared,  under  the  argus-eyed  surveillance  of 
the  legislature. 

Evil  not  only  hovers  about  us  in  our  infancy,  but  it  follows  us  to 
the  grave.  According  to  Dr.  LeMoyne,  the  cost  of  funerals  exceeds 
that  of  the  public  schools,  more  than  our  annual  product  of  gold 
and  silver.  And  after  the  people  are  buried,  the  poison  that  exudes 
from  their  bodies,  to  contaminate  the  air  and  impregniite  the  waters, 
fills  the  world  with  disease  and  death  again.  On  the  ground  that 
it  is  within  the  province  of  government  to  suppress  evils,  should 
not  the  disciples  of  cremation  get  out  an  act  preventing  the  church's 
burial  of  the  dead  ? 

Then  there  is  the  evil  of  poverty,  with  its  degradation.  Now 
Socialists  claim  that  the  State  should  be  one  great  work-house. 
Then  there  is  the  evil  of  infidelity  and  our  religious  friends  would 
have  the  catechism  taught  by  the  State,  and  their  churches  untaxed, 
because  they  are  doing  so  much  good.  They  would  likewise  have 
Ingersoll  suppressed  because  he  is  doing  so  much  harm.  But  reli- 
gion sometimes  goes  astray,  becomes  fanatical  and  superstitious. 
SluiU  revivals,  then,  be  suppressed  ?  They  must,  of  course,  if  when 
tlie  Infidels  get  into  power,  they  can  show  tliem  to  be  an  evil,  that 
they  produce  nervous  derangement  and  cause  a  Freeman  to  kill  his 
own  child  in  imitation  of  Abraham. 

Now  the  genuine  Calvinist  holds  that  there  is  no ]}(trticular  evil, 
but  that  all  is  evil  until  it  lias  been  rodcemed  by  sovereign  grace. 
Suppose  now  we  let  out  to  the  elect  all  the  remaining  evil  in  tlie 
world,  to  abolish  on  shares.  The  first  article  in  their  Constitution 
would  be,  "■Resolved  that  God  has  given  the  government  of  the  woi-ld 
over  to  His  saints."  And  the  secoiul  H'ould  read,  '■'■licsolvcd  that  we 
are  tlie  saints."  The  wjiole  world  woulil  be  given  over  to  the  sup- 
pression business ;  everybody's  evil  suppressing  everybody's  evil. 
The  moment  one  ([uestioned  another's  authority  for  so  doing,  he 
would  be  instantly  suppressed.  All  that  would  remain  in  tlie  world 
would  be  an  old  intolerant,  dried-up  Johovaii  as  tlie  the  emltcMli- 
ment  of  the  elect.  On  each  side  would  ))e  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the 
W.  C.  T.  U.  ;  and  St.  Jolin,  Joseph  Cook,  and  Anthony  Comstock 
would  be  liis  special  agents  ! 

The  last  and  greatest  evil,  then,  recpiiring  suppression  would 
be  the  spirit  of  intolerance,  or  the  sujipression  business  itself.  For, 
to  this  complexion  have  we  come  at  last,  that  if  one  evil  can  be  sup- 


4  PROHIBITION. 

pressed  for  the  "public  good,"  then  is  there  no  stopping  place.  If 
we  are  justified  in  suppressing  one  evil,  then  we  are  another  and  so 
on  until  all  are  closed  out.  What  kind  of  a  state  of  society  this  would 
lead  to  may  be  conjectured.  The  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew 
was  only  one  application  of  the  paternal  principle  ;  when  every  sect 
and  party  get  to  putting  heads  on  to  each  otlier,  then  we  may  see 
a  perfect  hell  on  earth. 

Then  we  may  conclude  that  governmental  interference  in  the 
case  of  (tny  evil  is  unjustifiable.  However  injurious  it  may  be,  and 
however  conduci\c  it  would  be  to  the  piiljlic  welfare  to  have  it  re- 
moved, it  is  plainly  not  the  province  of  government  to  attempt  to 
do  that  vmvk.  People  may  be  unwise,  immoral,  imi)ure,  corrupt, 
and  it  is  the  business  of  government  to  look  on  as  an  idle  spectator. 
All  cases  of  imbecility,  immorality,  impurity,  are  beyond  its  juris- 
diction, "WW*  with  which  it  has  no  more  to  do  than  it  has  with  bad 
reli  jrions. 


«• 


CRITICAL  EVILS. 

But  it  may  be  said  that,  "Evil  is  the  beginning  of  crime.  To 
claim  that  a  man  may  be  arrested  after  getting  drunk  and  not  pre- 
vented from  getting  drunk  is  folly.  It  would  be  like  damming  up 
a  stream  without  stopping  the  spring,  or  locking  the  stable  door 
after  the  horse  had  been  stolen.  As  prohibitionists  we  do  not  claim 
to  suppress  all  evil,  only  its  dangerous  character,  whicli,  at  any  mo- 
ment, may  break  out  into  a  crime." 

But  murder  often  results  from  anger,  slander  from  malice,  theft 
from  avarice ;  shall  the  State  therefore  suppress  anger,  malice  and 
avarice  ?  Can  we  tell  just  where  anger  leaves  ofl"  and  nnu'der  com- 
mences ?  Are  we  sure  tliat  all  cases  of  drinking  will  result  in  a 
crime,  or  that  any  particular  case  will  ?  If  not,  then  the  arrest  of 
evil,  on  the  ground  that  it  will  terminate  in  crime  is  purely  con- 
structional, (lep(!ndent  \\\w\\  public  opinion.  If  the  critical  condi- 
tion of  all  evils  is  tiius  to  be  left  to  Madame  (Jrundy,  who  is  safe  ? 

"But,"  says  the  proiii])ilionist,  "neither  can  any  prove  that  a 
critical  f\il  will  not  result  in  a  crime  ;  the  probabilities  arc  that 
it  will,  who  is  then  to  indemnify  society  against  the  risk?"  But 
this  is  an  entirely  dific'rent  thing  from  prohibition.  Iku-ausc  the 
critical  condition  of  mules  is  such  tliat  they  somelimes  kick,  is  an 
amendment  to  tiie  Constitution  to  be  advocated  abolisliin<r  mules  ? 
Houses  Hometimes  burn,  should  they,  therefore,  those  that  do  and 
those  that  do  not,  all  be  prohibited  ?     No :  i)rohibition  is  not  the 


JrERFECT  FREEDOM.  5 

thing,  but  insurance  is  what  is  wanted.  If  the  mule  were  a  free, 
moral  agent,  he  shoukl  be  put  un(hn-  bonds  to  keep  tlie  peace  or  be 
sent  to  a  reform  scliool,  and  tlie  liouse  sliouhl  be  insured  ao-ainst 
damage  in  case,  there  ever  is  afire.  In  the  case  of  insurance,  a  man 
is  put  under  bail  against  tlio  ]ial)ility  of  his  running  away.  Under 
prohibition  he  is  hung  without  giving  liim  a  chance  !  On  the  ground 
that  an  evil  is  criti('al,  proliibition  would  either  suppress  before  there 
was  any  certainty  that  it  ever  will  be  a  crime,  or  else  through  a 
mistaken  view,  permit  it  to  escape  altogether  from  paying  anv  dam- 
ages, in  case  it  should  become  a  crime.  Surely  such  a  kind  of  pro- 
hibition is  plainly  untenable. 

INSURANCE  vs.  LICENSE. 


It  may  here  be  asked  if  the  jirineiple  of  insurance  is  not  equiv- 
alent to  a  license?  No,  for  a  license  is  levied  indiscriminately 
upon  the  good  and  bad  alike.  Insurance  is  only  placed  on  risks 
mcurred.  A  license  is  the  same  to  all.  Insurance  is  high  or  low  ac- 
cording to  the  risk.  License  is  a  tax.  Insurance  is  only  a  security. 
License  finally  comes  out  of  the  drinker.  Insurance  comes  out  of 
the  pi'ofits  of  the  saloon  keeper.  In  the  case  of  license,  it  may  fall 
far  short  of  the  damage  done,  or  be  far  in  excess  of  it.  In  the  case 
of  insurance  the  liquor  deale^-  is  held  responsible  for  the  exact  amount 
of  damage,  when  it  occurs.  If  it  does  not  occur,  he  is  unrestricted 
in  the  sale  of  liquor. 

LIRERTY  THE  BASIS  OF  ORDER. 

"Then  eveiy  one  is  to  do  as  he  pleases.  Individual  liberty  is 
to  be  so  extolled  as  to  preclude  all  jiuthority,  order  and  discipline. 
Every  thing  is  to  go  on  in  a  laisscz-fuirc  way  until  it  plunges  over 
the  Niagara  of  crime.  The  youth  is  to  be  permitted  to  taste,  tlie 
taster  to  become  a  moderate  drinker,  the  moderate  drinker  to  be- 
come a  drunkard,  the  drunkard  to  become  a  common  drunkard, 
until  lie  at  last  blows  out  his  wife's  brains,  makes  paupers  of  his 
children,  and  dies  of  delirium.  Great  is  the  liberty  of  license!" 
cries  the  prohibitionist. 


Ncal  Dow  sjiys  "Wc  do  not  wisli  to  interfere  withonc's  private  liberty  to  (/nwA." 
How  then  will  he  vto))  intemperance  r  He  ehiinis  to  proliiliit  only  the  riiiht  to  itrll. 
How  then  i!<  one  to  have  the  rijilit  to  drink,  if  there  is  no  place  where  one  can  K»'t 
anythtng  to  drink  ?  It  ic  like  the  boy's  |)light  when  his  mother  told  him  he  might 
go  in  swimming,  but  lie  mniit  not  go  near  the  water.  But  the  late  Constitutional 
amendment,  now  advocated,  puts  a  quietus  on  all  this  liberty  business.  It  says 
fermented  liquor  shall  not  be  sold,  mauufactuted,  or  used. 


6  PROHIBITION. 

In  reply,  let  us  say  that  we  have  now  reached  that  portion  of 
our  subject,  where  we  can  assure  the  prohibitionists  that  they 
are  the  instigators  of  license,  and  we  the  sticklers  for  order. 
We  propose  to  show  to  them  that  we  are  really  more  friendly  to 
them  than  they  are  to  themselves.  For,  in  exposing  their  errors, 
we  are  prepared  to  rescue  for  them  the  real  truth  underlying  their 
cause.  If  this  is  rejected,  there  is  not  the  least  ground  for  them  to 
stand  upon. 

How  is  it  possible  for  the  prohibitionists  to  detect  the  beginning 
of  ci'ime  when  they  do  not  know  where  an  evil  leaves  off  ?    How 
can  they  ever  expect  to  suppress  the  one,  when  they  fail  to  allow 
proper  latitude  for  the  other  ?     Without  recognizing  the  proper 
liberty  for  the  individual  how  can  they  prescribe  the  jjroper  order 
for  society  ?     In  their  utter  confusion  as  to  the  line  of  deniarkation 
between  evils  and  crimes,  must  they  not  get  tilings  mixed  ?    And  in 
suppressing  the  things  which  ought  not  to  be  suppressed  must  they 
not  inevitably /rt«7  to  siipprcss  the  very  things  which  ought  to  be  pro- 
hibited ?    Besides,  in  suppressing  things  which  liave  an  equal  riglit 
to  be  free  will  they  not  be  provoked  to  regain  their  equal  rio-hts 
through  subterfuge  and  artifice  ?     And  in  tlius  Ijrcaking  loose  from 
SMchunnatural  and  arbiti'ary  bonds,  will  they  not,  to  find  an  equilib- 
rium,  go  to  tlie  other  extreme  ?       Then  it  is  the  prohibitionists, 
wlio  are  tlie  abettors  of  license  and  crime.      In  their  blind  frenzy 
to  pervert  a  republican  form  of  government  to  ecclesiastical  ends, 
it  never  occurs  to  them  to  iitilize  the  common  law  against  commoii 
offenses  ?     Wliy  have  they  never,  under  tlie  law  against  fraud  and 
misrepresentation,  indicted  any  saloon  keeper   for   adulteration  ? 
Instead  of  preying  upon  the  social  recreations  of  the  beer  gai'den 
and  the  wine  table,  why  have  they  made  no  arrests  for  disturbing 
the  peace  ?     Instead  of  complaining  that  tlie  licpior  (ralfic  confers  no 
good,  but  imjjoses  such  burdens  upon  the  tax  payers,  why  do  they 
not  hold  the  individuals  directly  resjjonsible  for  the  damages  they 
incur?     If  a  drunkard  cannot  pay  his  fines,  why  is  he  not  .sent  to 
an  asylum  to  work  it  out  ?*     And  if  In;  repeatedly  disturbs  the  peace 
and  taxes  the  comimmity,   why  not  keep  him   in  an  asylum  until 
.society  is  assured  of  no  encroachment  ?     lint  how  could  the  prohibi- 
tionists be  expected  to  properly  administer  a  government  of  which 
they  have  no  conception  ?     However,  as  advocates  of  "law  and  or- 

*  If  tho  HiilDoii  kci'pur  gels  the  wiiguK  of  tlic  drinker,  who  in  then  arrowted,  and 
hn«  110  money  with  which  to  pay  hit*  line,  beside  throwing  his  family  on  to  the  tax 
paycifrt  for  support,  how  can  they  become  indiMnnlllcd?  f^an  tlie  saloon  keei)er  be 
held  iiH  particf Jig  crimmixf  No  the  drinker  must  be  held  solely  resjionsible  for 
the  effect  of  his  drinking;  the  saloon  k('e|)<T  simply  dous  the  sellin},',  the  same  ae 
the  selier  of  llrearms,  or  teas:  be  cannot  be  made  resjionsible  for  what  the  users  of 
hesc  articles  do  with  them,  The  drinker  should  be  made  to  remunerate  the 
tax  payerp. 


LIBERTY  AND  ORDER.  7 

der,"  we  must  hold  them  responsible  for  the  overt  offenses  under 
the  common  law.  In  omitting  their  opportunity  here,  they  fritter 
awav  their  advocacy  ;  and  we  certainly  should  have  to  suspect  them 
of  insincerity,  were  it  not  apparent  that  they  are  as  blind  as  they 
are  sincere. 

We  would  have  our  friends  remember  that  the  doctrine  of  gov- 
ernment herein  advocated  is  no  loose  affair .     Liberty,  in  its  recipro- 
cal action,  is  very  severe  and  jealous  in  the  discipline  it  inculcates. 
Its  mill  grinds  so  exceeding  small  that  no  trespasser  can  escape. 
There  are  as  manv  justifications  for  the  arrest  of  crimes  as  there 
are  ways  to  commit  them.     The  defense  of  liberty  needs  no  special 
statute,  it  is  the  result  of  ages  of  human  experience,  and  tliere  is 
great  unanimity  for  its  enforcement.   It  requires  no  decoy  detectives 
or  eaves-droppers.     Societary  equality  is  the  collective  side  to  indi- 
vidual liberty.     The  reaction  of  tlie  one  is  equal  to  the  action  of 
the  other.     The  equilibrium  and  poise  of  nature  are  reproiluced  in 
the  harmony  of  society.      It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  equal 
liberty  can  lead  to  license  ;  to  suppose  so  would  be  a  contriuliction 
of  terms.      As  Proudhon  said,  it  is  indeed  "the  mother  of  order.' ' 
And  the  dictatorial  imposition  of  "law  and  order,"  reganlless  of  lib- 
erty, is  the  mother  of  disorder.     Where  there  is  perfect  liberty  ti.ere 
will  soon  be  perfect  temperance  ;  but  where  libex'ty  and  equality  are 
denied,  ignorance  and  tyranny  and  license  ensue. 

SOCIETY  vs.  THE  INDIVIDUAL. 

But  prohibitionists  claim  tliab  the  interests  of  society  are  greater 
tlian  those  of  tlie  individual.     Now  in  what  respect  are  the  claims 
of  society  greater  or  different  than  those  of  the  indivitluals  who 
compose  it  ?     To  be  sure  society  is  tlie  aggregate  wliile  tlie  individ- 
ual is  only  a  part ;  measured  by   (jHdutUij  one  is  greater  than  tlie 
otlier  ;  and  in  serving  the  whole  tlie  indiviilual  is  greatly  gloritied. 
But  in  doing  so  the  standard  of  society's  welfare  is  lirst  reflected  in 
one's  own  self  interest.     The  source  of  its  autliority  comes  back  to 
the  individual.     J^ven  in  times  of  public  danger,  the  sovereignty  of 
the  individual  supersedes  that  of  society.     The  individual  is  then 
sovereign  over  what  he  shall  eonsi«ler  a  public  danger,  and  whetlier 
or  not  his  oivn  danger  is  included.     That  would  be  a  pretty  'public 
danger'  where  it  should  be  the  fate  of  the  citizen   to  get  an  unmer- 
ciful Hogging,  in  order  to  appreciate  the  danger  of  the  situation  ! 
If  then,  in  times  of  war  the  individual  is  supreme,  lie  is  certainly  .so 
in  times  of  peace.     Society  can  claim  no  rights  that  do  not  primarily 
belong  to  the  individual. 


8  PROHIBITION. 

If  the  rights  of  all  individuals  wei'e  any  greater  than  those  of 
any  individual,  they  would  increase  as  society  grew.  A  community 
of  ton  would  have  twice  as  many  rights  as  one  of  five,  one  of  one 
hundred  would  have  ten  times  as  many  rights  as  one  comi^osed  of 
ten.  And  whei'e  there  were  a  million  souls  there  rights  would  be  so 
vastly  increased  that  the  individual  would  have  hardly  any !  No  ; 
a  society  of  ten,  a  hundred,  or  a  thousand,  has  no  more  rights 
than  au}^  one  in  that  societ3^  Ten  is  but  a  repetition  of  one  ;  one 
is  but  the  unit  of  measure  for  all  the  rest ;  the  rights  of  the  whole 
are  contained,  in  miniature,  in  the  rights  of  one.  And  this  one 
is  a  complete  sovereign  from  all  aggression,  so  long  as  he  does  not 
transgress  another''s  bound  himself.  If  this  foundation  be  ignored, 
society  itself  has  no  rights  at  all.  This  talk,  then,  about  the  supe- 
rior claims  of  society  is  a  trick  of  words,  a  delusion,  a  usurpation. 
Individuals  existed  befoi'e  society  ;  out  of  tliem  was  it  made  ;  away 
from  it  can  they  secede.  In  short,  the  governmental  status  of  the 
individual  decides  the  status  of  society.  Society  exists  for  the  indi- 
vidual, not  the  individual  for  society.  Society  is  but  an  individual 
written  large.  The  sovei'eignty  of  the  individual  then,  is  of  supi'eme 
importance  as  a  factor  in  the  welfare  of  society.  In  one  of  the 
brightest  gems  of  legal  jui-isprudence,  the  law  has  always  recognized 
tills  fact.  Does  it  say  that  anything  may  be  done  to  the  individual, 
provided  it  is  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  society  ?  No,  it  says  "A 
wrong  done  by  the  government  to  the  humblest  individual  is  a  wrong 
done  to  the  whole  people."  Why  ?  Because  liberty  is  alwa^'^s  vio- 
lated in  the  persons  of  the  dos])ised,  never  against  the  rich  or  the 
respectable.  And  if  the  rights  of  these  are  protected,  even  though 
they  are  "saloon  keepers  !"  the  rights  of  all  are  secure. 

PRIVATE  INTEREST  vs.  THE  "PUBLIC  GOOD." 

Another  thing  the  prohiljitionists  are  solicitous  for,  and  this  is 
the  "jMiblic  good,"  tlic  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number.  And 
for  this  end  pi-ivate  interest,  or  nrivate  good,  must  get  out  of  tlie  way. 
Now  is  there  any  such  tiling,  in  government,  as  the  public  gooil 
divorced  from  one's  own  private  good  ?  What  is  the  greatest  gov- 
(iriimeutal  good  if  it  is  not  to  make  every  one  mind  his  own  busi- 
ness i'  'J'liis  having  b(!<'i)  accomiilished,  an  e(juMl  oi»porlunity  is 
e\l«'nil<'d  to  all  to  help  themselves.  All  being  oili;r(;d  an  e(jual  op- 
jKntiinily  for  self  lielp,  they  will  be  al;le  to  help  themselves,  and  in 
i!ase  of  nece.s.sity,  be  able  to  help  otiiers.  Ecjual  liberty  necessitates 
(Mpiality,  eiiuality  begets  fraternity,  and  fraternity  solidarity.     For 


CRIMES  VS.  MORALS.  9 

the  government  then  to  guarantee  the  perfect  liberty  of  each  indi- 
vidual, is  to  guarantee  the  "greatest  good"  to  society.  We  have 
heard  prohibitionists  quote  the  maxim  that  "Tlie  public  good  was 
the  supreme  law,"  but  we  have  never  heard  of  it  elsewhere.  We 
have  heard  that  the  public  safety  was  the  supreme  law,  ' ' Salus pop- 
iili  suprema  lex.''''  But  this  is  a  very  difterent  thing  from  the  public 
good  as  the  supreme  law.  Neither,  as  has  been  shown,  is  the  pub^ 
lie  safety  at  all  incompatible  with  one's  private  safety. 

MORAL  vs.  LEGAL  WRONG. 

The  great  mistake  made  by  the  prohibitionist,  is  in  confounding 
what  is  morally  wrong  with  what  is  legally  wrong.      He  says  "We 
rejoice  in  the  utmost  personal  liberty  so  long  as  the   people   do 
right."     And  the  Czar  of  Russia  rejoices  in  the  same  way.     No  se- 
curer lease  of  power  could  any  tyrant  have.      With  the  individual 
siibordinate  to  society,  with  each  one's  private  interest  suri'endered 
to  the  public  good,  what  end  would  there  be  to  tyranny  ?    This 
very  article,  were  prohibitionists  in  power,  could  be  suppressed,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  injurious  to  society.     It  may  be    morally 
wrong  for  a  person  to  eat  many  mince  pies,  on  going  to  bed.      Yet 
it  is  not  the  State's  business  to  regulate  dyspepsia  or  nightmare. 
It  is  a  moral  wrong  for  one  to  get  drunk,  but  it  is  beyond  the  prov- 
ince of  government  to  say  what  a  person  shall  drink.      There   are 
many  ways  in  which  people  may  voluntarily  injure  themselves,  yet 
it  is  not  the  business  of  government  to  direct  all  our  thoughts  and 
habits.     Evils  and  vice  do  far  more  harm  to  society  than  crimes; 
and  their  indirect  inlluence  is  greater  than  the  direct,  yet  for  alj 
t,liis,  government  is  unjustiiied  in  interfering.     The  world  is  full  of 
misexy  and  woe  ;  the  strong  have  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak; 
the  wise  must  sutler  from  the  ignorant ;  the  virtuous  are  pained  at 
vice;  and  would  it  not  be  a  blessed  thing  to  sweep  them  all  out  at 
one  fell  swoop   by  act  of  Congress!      But  no,  government  cannot 
l)r(;perly  move  an  inch,   without  becoming  criminal.      But  let  the 
King  so  much  as  tread  on  a  peasant's  toe,  and  it  immediately  be- 
comes the  duty  of  government  to  leap  to  the  rescue  ; — it  is  a  crime.* 
Now  the  ndiurc  of  a  crime,  as  distinguished  from  a  vice,  and 
which  specially  brings  it  within  the  power  of  government  to  sup- 
press, is  an  overt  act  of  force  accompanied  with  a  bad  intent.     Af- 

*  "VVc  do  not  iiroposc  to  iiiterfero  with  iinmonility  and  vice,  but  to  siternly  siip- 
pii'ss  ciinii'." — Pull  Mull  (iuztlle  But  llic  C'liicago  ''Law  and  Order  League"  had 
tlie  American  publishers  of  the  Loudon  exposure  arrested,  on  the  ground  of 
immorality  1 


10  PROHIBITION. 

ter  an  aggressive  act  of  force  has  been  begun  it  is  jiistifiable  to  use  a 
counter  force,  to  withstand  it.  When  a  crime  is  thus  committed, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  individual  is  surrendered,  in  the  very  act,  in 
favor  of  equal  sovereignty.  The  rationale  for  the  arrest  of  force  is 
because  it  is  misplaced,  unreciprocal,  out  of  balance.  If  the  intent 
be  good  it  does  not  alter  the  false  relationship,  which  having  been 
rectified,  the  collective  force  of  society  is  at  an  end.  This  is  illus- 
trated with  mathematical  exactness  when  a  drunkard  enters  one's 
house.  The  law  says  if  an  order  to  leave  will  do,  the  use  of  force  is 
not  justified.  If  he  oft'ers  slight  resistance,  then  07il(j  just  enough 
force  to  overcome  it  is  ijermissable. 

The  government  itself  is  amenable  to  law,  it  cannot  violate  that 
which  it  is  to  enforce.  Its  office  and  exercise  is  no  lono-er  a  chaotic 
mess  of  opinion  and  guess  work,  but  determined  with  scientific  ex- 
actness. It  does  not  exist  to  promote  morals,  or  order,  but  for 
the  scientitic  ])reservation  of  individual  liberty.  It  follows  then, 
that,  like  ever}'  other  natural  oreaniKation,  it  must  have  its  own 
particular  individuality.  As  a  bird  with  wings  cannot  swim,  or  a 
fish  with  tins  cannot  fly,  or  a  reaping  machine  cannot  thrash,  or  a 
thrasher  harvest,  so  the  governmental  machine  can  do  but  one  kind 
of  work.  If  it  attempts  everything,  it  will  do  nothing  well  ;  if  it  goes 
out  of  its  sphere,  it  has  lapsed  from  that  of  a  defensive  to  an  aggres- 
sive criminal.*  And  when  in  the  name  of  "law  and  order"  the  <rov- 
ernment  itself  becomes  the  source  of  disorder,  that  arising  from  indi- 
viduals is  small  in  comparison.  The  kind  of  government  the  people 
sustain  i.s  a  siu-e  gauge  of  their  own  peacableiiess  and  co-operation 
To  such  an  extent  is  this  true,  that  when  only  a  scientilic  govern- 
ment is  desired,  that  will  not  long  be  necessary.  For,  in  standing 
guard  over  liberty,  who  can  possibly  be  more  interested  than  liberty, 
herself  ?t 


*  Only  think  of  Mic  Anu-rican  eagle,  luivi;,'  torn  tlie  bloody  siiiit  to  tattern,  now 
Btoopinng  to  poke  over  the  dirty  linen  of  nrigliani  VoiingI  O  shame  on  ghiinie: 
The  downfall  of  the  American  republic  will  date  from  llie  party  of  "public  improve- 
ments" and  great  "moral  ideas." 

t  How  much  defensive  government  does  the  reader  suppose  would  be  necessary? 
This  cannot  be  exactly  told  until  we  get  out  from  under  the  elTeels  of  ;i  paternal 
one.  How  far  people  would  voluntarily  transgress,  may  be  conjectured,  by  notic- 
ing those  native  tribes  who  are  void  of  government  or  civilization.  The  reports  of 
students  are  that  the  rule  of  reciprocity  is  universally  recognized.  Theft  is  rarely 
known.  No  police,  safes,  or  locks  are  needed.  Individual  Bovcrcignty  fairly  bris- 
tles with  a  jealous  regard  for  equal  sovereignty.  There  is  no  inequality  of  condi- 
tions. If  we  now  turn  to  civilized  countries,  with  a  national  government,  we  find 
all  this  reversed.  Nay,  more  :  not  only  do  we  find  that  crimes  against  property  are 
a  re>!ult  of  civilization,  but  that  they  increase  with  progress.  There  is  now  Ave 
times  us  much  crime  as  twenty  live  years  ago.  I'ateriuil  government,  too,  since  the 
war,  has  increased  that  fast.     Tin;  r.ad.T  may  n-.w  be  left  to  judge  which  is  the 


THE  ''PUBLIC  good:'  11 


PATERNALISM,  vs.  LIBERTY 

But  liow  utitiiral  it  is  for  one  to  desire  to  see  the  affairs  of  the 
community  administered  as  a  father  woukl  govern  his  family. 
When  tlie  wise  are  able  to  see  a  course  of  action  that  would  plainly 
be  for  the  benefit  of  the  ignorant,  how  well  it  would  be  for  the 
community  to  insist  upon  tlieir  following  it.  And  how  natural  it  is 
for  us  to  impress  our  ego  before  the  truth.  If  we  were  to  start  a 
colony,  it  may  be  asked,  would  it  not  be  desirable  to  pick  the  best 
people,  and  would  not  sober  people  be  the  best,  and  after  having 
gained  these  would  it  not  be  of  first  importance  to  keep  all  others 
out? 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  sober  people  are  preferable,  and  that 
a  community  without  saloons  would  be  desirable.  But  it  would  be 
far  more  desirable  to  have  an  immoral  community  well  governed 
than  to  have  persecution  and  a  whited-sepulchre-kind  of  morality. 
A  far  richer  and  more  complex  life  would  be  engendered  from  a 
vai'iety  of  people  of  diflerent  morals,  but  recognizing  equal  liberty, 
than  could  be  derived  from  any  class,  sect,  school  or  clique. 
Without  this  indispensable  requisite,  even  heaven  itself  and  the 
society  of  angels,  would  be  intolerable.  However,  any  set  of  indi- 
viduals have  the  right  to  unanimously  make  their  own  contract  not 
to  have  any  saloons,  and  to  parcel  oft'  their  own  ward  or  tract, 
where  such  conditions  shall  exist.  But  they  have  no  right  to  ex- 
clude adjoining  disenters  from  establishing  saloons,  as  a  part  of 
their  right  of  contract.* 

Then  it  may  be  further  objected  that,  "  If  the  principle  of  pater- 
nalism is  not  applicable  in  the  State  neither  is  it  a  tenable  one  to 
hold  in  the  family. ''  Certainly  not.  Who  has  not  heard  the  i-emark 
when  a  particularly  wayward  youth  was  noticed,  '•  He  must  be  a 
minister's  son?"  The  doctrine  of  equal  liberty  obtains  between 
parent  and  child  as  much  as  between  children  themselves.  "But  is 
not  the  parent'  s  counsel  the  child'  s  safeguard  ?"  Only  when  the 
child  is  free  to  disobey  it  at  its  own  cost  can  either  its  experience  or 

most  criminal,  the  govurninent,  or  the  people  naturally  towards  each  other.  And 
whether  ornot,  when  the  weak  and  vicious  offspring  of  paternalism  have  been  dis- 
posed of,  there  will  be  any  need  of  even  a  special  police  force.  Indeed,  we  are  in- 
clined to  thi)ik  that  such  a  standing  force  exercises  a  predatory  function. 

*  Liberal,  Mo.,  has  evinced  the  same  lack  of  discrimination  in  prohibiting  not 
only  saloons,  but  churches.  Pullman,  near  Chicago,  is  a  complete  illustration  of 
paternalism,  which  has  resulted  in  a  huge  plantation  specnlation.  Our  boarding 
schools  and  colleges  are  all  conducted  on  the  paternal  principle,  which  is  the  cause 
of  much  of  their  immorality. 


12  PROHIBITION. 

character  be  formed.  If  it  be  said  that  the  doctrine  of  equal  liber- 
ty is  surrendered  in  the  case  of  infants,  it  is  because  they  are  infants, 
and  cannot  be  made  responsible  for  their  parents'  acts.  Their  lib- 
ert}"^  begins  with  their  capacity  to  show  that  they  are  responsible. 
"But  has  not  a  child  a  right  to  be  well  born  ?  If  so,  the  State  should 
regulate  offspiing."  Yet,  not  even  here  as  its  last  resort,  and  with 
Plato  for  a  guide,  can  paternalism  find  lodgement.  Force  can  nev- 
er supplement  the  defects  of  the  parrental  instinct. 

Again  it  ma}^  be  claimed  that  if  a  purely  defensive  governmeut 
is  the  onl^r  correct  one,  "It  could  not  educate  the  children,  take 
care  of  the  sick,  or  relieve  the  poor. ' '  Certainly  not  any  more  than 
it  can  teach  religion.  "Then  it  cannot  employ  inspt^ctors  of  meat 
or  milk,  institute  sanitary  regulations,  erect  light-houses,  grade 
streets,  build  bridges  and  sewers,  improve  navigable  streams,  issue 
money,  or  carry  tlie  mails.  "  Most  assuredl}"  does  the  doctrine  of 
equal  liberty  and  a  defensive  government  allow  people  to  volunta- 
rily provide  these  things  for  themselyes,  ".as  their  intex'est  may 
appear. " 

"But  can  large  enterprises  be  carried  on  by  voluntary  associa- 
tion?" Yes,  the  continent  has  been  spanned  with  rails,  the  sea 
dotted  with  sails,  the  Alps  have  been  tunneled,  a  canal  is  being  dug 
across  the  Isthmus,  the  desert  of  Sahara  is  about  to  be  watered,  all 
b}-  private  enterprise.  And  did  not  the  government  keep  her  dead- 
headism  screened  from  competition,  some  Yankee  would  have,  long 
ago,  given  us  penny  postage  and  the  postal  telegraph.  A  Chicago 
daily,  by  ocean  cable,  gave  us  a  whole  revelation  from  God  to  man, 
the  following  morning  after  it  appeared  in  London.  Meanw  hile  the 
only  distinguishing  feature  characterizing  governmental  supervis- 
ion, is  its  emplo3nient  of  an  espionage  of  the  mails. 

But  it  may  be  said,  "The  doctrme  of  paternalism  is  not  incon-* 
sistent  with  but  inclusive  of  the  doctrine  of  equal  liberty. ''  So  far 
is  this  from  the  truth  that  where  the  execution  of  the  doctrine  of 
paternalism  begins  that  of  ecjual  liberty  leaves  oft".  Where  paternal- 
ism is  simply  advisory  or  I'ecommendatory,  it  falls  outside  of  the 
category  of  governnient.  Paternalism  in  government,  imposed  by 
force,  however  good  or  benelicial  in  design,  is  pure  tyranny.* 

Many  pretended  justilications  of  paternalism  grow  out  of  pre- 
vious vi(jlatious  of  liberty.  Fencing  laws,  for  instance,  are  un- 
warranted iisurj)ati()ns  of  liberty.  So  are  all  stock  laws.  No  man 
should  be  compelled  to  fenee  against  another's  stock,  neither  should 
another's  stock  be  proiiiljiU-d  from  running  on  the  public  domain. 

*  The  more  paternal  the  Ki'veniment  the  more  it  i(>  hated,  until  people  put  out 
their  eyt-H.  pull  out  their  teeili,  cut  off  their  llngerM,  uud  lie  uljout  tlieir  tuxes,  to  es- 
cape itM  service. 


PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT.  13 

All  trespassing  is  a  matter  of  private  grievance.  But  grant  a  mo- 
nopoly of  land,  and  all  the  other  laws  follow.  Poor  men's  ex- 
emption laws  have  never  helped  a  poor  man,  except  to  curtail 
his  credit,  and  make  him  dishonest.  But  having  instituted  the 
devouring  shark  of  usury,  the  paternal  State  likes  to  protect  the 
poor !  The  unjustifiable  usury  laws,  can  only  be  rationally  inter- 
preted, by  acknowledging  the  right  of  free  banking.  Compulsory 
education,  excusing  itself  under  "universal  suffrage,"  becomes 
needless,  after  the  abrogation  of  majority  rule. 

The  doctrine  of  equal  liberty,  on  the  other  hand,  covers  all  that 
is  so  bunglingly  attempted  by  paternalism,  without  its  expense  or 
injustice.  For  instance,  a  person  has  a  right,  on  the  ground  of 
equal  liberty  to  make  his  own  kind  of  street  and  side- walk,  but  if  it 
should  be  such  as  to  impede  travel,  he  could  be  complained  of.  But 
on  the  ground  of  paternalism,  one  could  not  regulate  the  architec- 
ture of  his  ovm  house ;  and  if  it  was  a  Quaker  who  was  in  office,  it 
might  have  to  be  painted  drab. 

Pternalism  itself,  at  last,  comes  to  reciprocity  for  judgment. 
The  mooted  questions  of  governn-  ental  jurisdiction  can  be  settled 
in  no  other  way.  Take,  for  instance,  the  dispute  over  the  Bible 
in  the  public  schools,  where  the  religious  conscience  of  the  Catholic 
is  diametrically  in  conflict  with  that  of  the  Protestant.  What  is 
to  unlock  this  difficulty,  and  insure  peace,  except  the  doctrine  of 
eipial  liberty  ?  There  is  compulsory  vaccination,  what  can  pater- 
nalism do  to  adjust  the  relations  of  the  rival  claimants  ?  Take  the 
case  of  free  speech  for  Dynamiters  and  the  parades  of  the  Salvation 
army,  what  is  to  decide  the  limits  of  governmental  jiu'is  diet  ion  ? 
Take  the  problem  of  land  tenure,  how  can  paternalism  settle  it  ? 
But,  upon  the  basis  of  equal  liberty,  it  settles  itself. 

In  our  hue  and  cry  iov  political  liberty,  as  interpreted  by  ma- 
jority rule,  the  counterfeit  is  often  taken  for  the  real.  The  advo- 
cates of  paternalism,  then,  cry  '■'laissez  faire,''''  and  "do  as  you 
please."  We  answer  that  these  are  none  of  the  characteristics  of 
equal  liberty.  License  is  always  a  result  of  an  irresponsible  pater- 
nalism, an  undefined  reaction  from  it,  or  a  relic  of  i)atornaIism,  in 
tlie  name  of  liberty.  Equal  liberty  is  the  very  soul  of  order  con- 
servatism and  progress. 

Let  us  not,  then,  confound  the  application  of  paternalism  witli 
Die  doctrine  of  equal  liberty.  The  exact  principle  that  separates 
tliom  is  that  governmental  interterence  is  never  justifiable  on  the 
ground  of  the  nature  of  the  act  itself,  but  on  the  ground  of  its  uu re- 
ciprocal relationship.  An  act,  good  by  itself,  may  be  very  meddle- 
some, while  a  bad  act,  which  injux-es  only  the  party  concerned,  is 
not  to  be  suppressed.     And  if  there  is  ever  any  doubt  as  to  how  far 


14  PROHIBITION. 

the  direct  influence  of  a  person's  acts  may  extend,  it  is  always  safe 
to  give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  liberty. 

SOVEREIGN  RULE  OF  THE  MAJORITY. 


It  may  be  claimed  that  a  purely  defensive  government  is  inop- 
erative in  the  presence  of  majority  rule.  Then  so  much  the  worse 
for  majority  rule.  If  the  majority  should  vote  to  chop  off  the  heads 
of  the  minority  would  it  establish  the  unlimited  right  of  majorities 
to  do  as  they  please  ?  And  would  the  minority  be  justified  in  return- 
ing the  same  favor,  when  it  gets  to  be  the  majoi'ity  ?  If  not,  then 
,is  there  some  principle  or  standard  of  liberty,  above  the  majority. 
It  is  called  a  constitution.  And  a  constitution,  in  limiting  the  powers 
of  the  majority,  recognizes  certain  rights  for  the  minority,  such  as 
the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  property.  But  these  are  not  rights,  if 
they  conflict  with  the  equal  liberty  of  others  to  the  same.  The 
equality  of  rights,  then,  is  the  only  fundamental  riglit,  the  greatest 
of  rights,  embracing  all  others.  A  constitution,  guaranteeing  this, 
would  be  perfect,  in  the  nature  of  things,  for  all.  But,  one  failing 
in  this,  woukl  be  only  a  constitution  for  the  majority,  who  need 
none.  It  would  not  only  be  no  constitution,  but  woi'se,  an  instru- 
ment of  oppression. 

The  modus  ojierandi  of  vesting  sovereignty  in  the  majority  is  as 
absurd  as  it  is  unjust.  Suppose  the  sovereign  will  is  composed 
of  eiglit  noses,  and  a  minority  consists  of  seven.  Then,  if  one  from 
the  eight  goes  over  to  the  seven,  those  which  previously  were  ruined 
now  rule,  all  by  a  majority  of  07ic.'  What  a  temptation,  where  ves- 
ted interests  are  at  stake,  to  buy,  bribe  and  bulldoze  that  one !  Or 
where  personal  rights  are  jeopai'dized,  the  result  is  a  bolt  and  seces- 
sion. If  a  third  party  be  in  the  field,  consisting  of  two,  it  will  hold 
the  balance  of  power,  and  a  minority  rule.  If  from  the  seven  one 
should  move  into  a  ward  where  six  constituted  a  majority,  then  what 
was  a  majority  in  one  place,  would  be  a  minority  in  another  ;  the 
sovereign  power  resting  in  a  mere  comparison  of  numbers.  If  the 
majority  of  voters  are  industrial  slaves,  the  strongest  organized  so- 
cial influence,  a  moneyed  oligarchy,  will  rule.  Politicians,  instead 
of  statesmen,  beconn!  dic(!  throwers  ;  ixflitics  become  an  organized 
mob,  with  no  heart  that  can  be  appealed  to,  no  head  that  can  be 
blown  ofl".  Great  is  the  sovereign  power,  not  of  liberty,  but  of 
noses  !  It  matters  not  whose,  or  of  what  kind,  only  so  they  can  be 
counl(Ml !  The  more  numerous  the}'  are.  and  the  lower  in  the  scale 
of  creation,  the  more  republican  the /orm  of  government! 


MAJORITY  RULE.  15 

The  real  fact  is,  then,  that  the  rale  of  the  majority,  under  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  must  always  be  wrong.  God  never 
speaks  through  majorities.  The  majoi'ity,  over  here,  a«  against 
King  George,  did  repi'esent  libert}-,  but  it  has  never  since  repre- 
sented it  except  as  a  protest  against  some  previous  majority.  The 
majority  rule  system,  then,  carries  in  itself  the  seed  of  its  own  dis- 
solution. King  George  was  once  our  political  Pope,  then  majority 
rule  became  our  political  Bible,  and  'rule  of  faith  and  piactice.' 
Soon  will  the  private  interpretation  of  sects  and  parties  so  divide  its 
authority,  that  the  last  majority  will  be  the  sovereignty  of  the  indi- 
vidual, as  typical  of  the  ecpuil  sovereignt}^  of  all.  Mere  numbers, 
devoid  of  any  principle  of  liberty,  only  indicate  brute  force.  And 
when  an  important  issue  or  crisis  arises,  it  results  in  civil  strife. 

Majority  rule  and  compulsory  taxation,  then,  are  the  tap  root 
of  all  violations  of  equal  liberty.  They  are  survivmg  types  of  brute 
force  and  rapacity.  When  a  car  of  cattle  or  hogs  is  unloaded  to 
feed,  the  form  of  government  thej-  immetliately  resolve  tliemselves 
into  is  one  of  majority  rule  and  compulsory  taxation.  The  mo- 
ment one  should  be  stationed,  as  an  umpire  to  keep  the  others  in 
place,  we  should  have  a  government  of  reciprocity.  And  as  soon 
as  all  should  find  that  it  was  for  their  interest  to  Keep  themselves  in 
place,  \vithout  any  outside  government,  we  should  have  local  au- 
tonomy, or  self  government. 

Now  the  evolution  of  government  passes  through  these  changes. 
First,  we  have  the  government  of  animals,  or  brute  force,  which 
takes  an  aggressive  form.  Then  we  liave  brute  force,  directed  by 
cunning  and  greed,  qualities  of  the  fox  and  the  wolf.  This  direction 
of  government  is  exemplified  in  wars  of  conquest,  in  commerce,  in 
corporations,  and  makes  most  of  our  legal  titles  to  2)roperty.  The 
function  of  government  is  that  of  a  thief  and  Iiighwayman.  Then 
we  have  brute  force  aggressively  directeil  by  paternalism,  or  the  rule 
ot  the  good  over  the  bad,  the  respectable  over  the  unrespectable, 
tlie  orthodox  over  the  heterodox.  The  source  of  authority  emanates 
from  a  central  lieail,  the  pretext  for  its  exercise  is  always  "  the  pub- 
lic good."  Tills  is  tiie  government  of  tlie  theologians,  for  its  au- 
thor and  oriirin  is  God  groverning  the  worhl.  It  is  the  government 
also  of  the  refoiiners  and  the  state  Socialists.  It  is  the  govern- 
ment of  the  best,  of  the  aristocracy.  Some  wise  man  has  said  that 
it  does  not  make  any  dillerence  what  the  form  of  the  government, 
if  only  the  best  rules ! 

Lastly,  we  have  the  kind  of  government  herein  advocated.  It 
is  not  the  entire  elimination  of  brute  force,  ])ut  it  is  used  defensively, 
instead  of  aggressively,  repressive  not  initiative.       Its    use   is    to 


16  PROHIBITION. 

withstand  force,  to  put  it  at  rest,  not  to  set  it  in  motion.  Action 
and  reaction  being  equal,  an  equilibrium  is  produced  and  peace 
obtained.  It  differs  from  paternalism  as  to  the  source  of  its  author- 
ity. It  does  not  come  from  God,  nor  any  person,  however  good. 
It  is  not  the  government  of  any  man  over  man.  It  arises  from  the 
necessity  of  reciprocity  in  harmonious,  human  relationship. 

This  kind  of  government  never  suppresses  an  action  because  it 
is  bad,  nor  assists  one  because  it  is  good.  It  knows  nothing  about 
the  "i^ublic  welfare."  It  does  not  aim  to  make  you  pure,  or  chaste, 
or  wise,  or  religious,  or  learned,  or  moral,  or  good.  It  only  aims 
to  keep  the  peace,  to  prevent  tresjjassing,  to  award  damages. 

In  its  use  of  force,  it  is  to  preserve  equal  liberty  It  is  the  be- 
ginning and  end,  the  only  thing  for  which  it  exists.  When  this  is 
accomplished,  law  and  order  are  the  result ;  but  in  seeking  law  and 
order  first,  libcT-ty  is  violated  and  disorder  ensues.  A  defensive 
government,  therefore,  is  the  only  kind  that  is  legitimate,  effica- 
cious, definable,  subject  to  law,  or  stops  when  it  gets  through.* 

PROHIBITION  CANNOT  PROHIBIT. 

Having  disposed  of  the  jurisdiction  of  prohibition,  showing  that 
it  has  no  right  to  pi'ohibit,  we  now  come  to  show  how  it  could  not, 
if  it  would.  Do  not  all  know  that  knowledge  is  not  administered 
by  proxy,  that  all  wisdom  comes  from  expo'ience,  and  that  outside 
imposition  never  can  raise  the  moral  standard  higher  than  the  in- 
ward development  ?  Prohibitionists  might  as  well  advocate  pro- 
ducing a  vacuum  by  legislation,  as  to  make  character  by  it.  It  is 
an  utter  impossibility.  To  be  sure,  an  artificial  obstruction  has  an  , 
influence,  but  how?  In  exciting  the  drinking  habit  to  renewed  ac- 
tivity. And,  in  the  use  of  force,  the  exei'cise  of  the  character  is 
changed  from  the  higher  to  the  lower  faculties.  You  mav  not  see 
the  accustomed  expre.s.sion  of  the  habit,  but,  depend  upon  it,  it  is 
tliere,  it  has  been  driven  in.     A  disease  had  mucli  better  be  on  the 

*  Herbert  Spencer's  "Social  Statics"  was  one  of  his  first  books,  written  over  25 
years  ago.  "Man  and  the  State"  is  one  of  his  last.  In  the  first,  he  showed  the  in- 
elHcacioiiB  working  of  all  State  interferences  with  banking,  with  cdncation,  sanitary 
aflairs,  iVrc.  In  the  last,  he  denominates  class  legislation  in  favor  of  labor  as  'The 
Coming  Slavery."  Tnder  "I'roliibition,"  we  have  endeavored  to  show  another  in- 
stance of  like  character.  Cannot  the  reader  now  perceive  the  laiv  of  inefllcacy 
which  applies  to  all  paternalism  t  Hardly,  for  that  would  imply  that  the  govern- 
mcutal  mind  was  imbued  with  an  idea  of  nalurul  caumtlon.  Until  then,  let  it  be 
understood  that  God  and  government  are  the  rmly  two  lawless  objects  in  the  Uni- 
veise  1  But  the  moment  tin-  mind  recognizes  that  these  two  objects  aan  be  tamed, 
let  it  be  remembered  that  tliere  can  no  more  be  parties  in  government,  than  in  botany 
or  chemistry. 


PROHIBITION  CANNOT  PROHIBIT.  17 

surface  ;  the  best  authorities  say  bring  it  out ;  by  di-iving  it  in,  yo\i 
will  kill  the  patient.  The  weather  cannot  be  changed  by  breaking 
the  thermometer,  it  will  go  right  along  just  the  same.  You  can  no 
more  change  a  person's  morals  b\'  law  than  you  can  teach  a  child 
to  pray,  with  a  whip.  It  is  only  by  bringing  the  counter  moral  and 
intellectual  influences  to  bear  that  vice  is  eradicated.  It  must  be 
drawn  out  by  attraction,  not  suppressd  by  compulsion ;  the  sun 
may  melt  it,  but  the  wind  cannot  drive  it  away.  There  is  a  correla- 
tion of  forces  in  the  moral  as  well  as  in  the  physical  world.  When 
the  devils,  in  Scripture,  were  driven  out,  it  is  said  that  they  all  came 
asrain,  brino-ing  with  them  seven  other  devils  worse  than  the  first. 
Why  ?  Because  the  chambers  were  em-pty,  there  being  nothing  left 
to  take  the  devils'  place.  How  virtuous,  that  man  must  be,  who 
never  takes  a  drink  only  because  he  never  gets  a  chance  ! 

Our  prohibitory  friends  seem  to  mistake  the  nature  of  evil ;  they 
give  to  it  a  theological  instead  of  a  philosophical  cast.  They  regard 
evil  as  an  entity,  an  emanation  from  the  devil,  a  thing  that  can  be 
cast  out.  Now  bodily  physicians  have  given  up  this  idea  long  ago. 
They  regard  disease  as  an  effort  of  nature  to  overcome  an  obstruc- 
tion ;  and  their  method  of  cure  is  to  assist  nature,  in  overcoming  it, 
not  in  obstructing  her  !  Prohibitionists,  therefore,  from  their  diag- 
nosis, are  entirely  unfitted,  to  treat  intemperance.  The  real  fact 
is  that  every  evil  begins  as  a  good  ;  it  only  becomes  an  evil  when  it 
goes  to  seed,  becomes  respectable,  or  is  outgrown.  In  all  evil  there 
is  a  soul  of  goodness,  in  error  a  soul  of  truth,  and  to  arbitrarily  sup- 
press the  evil,  unless  it  is  naturally  outgrown,  one  must  also  sup- 
press the  good.  Evil  and  good  being  only  relative  terms,  it  follows 
that  all  Pharisaism  is  ill  founded  ;  anv  and  all  effort  endeavoring  to 
overcome  its  ?>u</-adaptatiou,  is  ecpially  saintly.  To  resort  to  force 
to  exterminate  an  evil  is  a  sui-e  sign  that  one's  own  virtue  is  at  a  low 
ebb.  It  shows  a  moral  cowardice,  a  lack  of  faith  in  one's  cause. 
It  indicates  that  it  is  risky  busmess  to  allow  the  whole  of  vice  to 
combat  with  the  whole  of  virtue.  The  prohibitionists  see  virtue 
down  and  they  run  up  to  the  great  bull  dog  of  the  State  and  say, 
"Seize  him  !  Pull  the  Devil  off'."  Believing  that  the  heart  of  the 
Universe  is  rotten,  they  beg  Congress  to  cover  it  with  a  paternal 
plaster  !  But  we  have  far  more  faith  in  vice,  under  liberty,  than  in 
all  their  regulation  and  conformity.  Give  us  a  good  healthy  sinner 
any  time,  in  preference  to  a  dead  saint ;  above  all,  give  us  a  good 
square  look  at  a  natural  human  beuig. 

Now  cf  what  is  the  evil  of  intemperance  composed  ?  Instead 
of  its  being  the  cause  of  all  other  evils,  as  our  prohibition  friends 
would  lead  us  to  supposi',  is  it  not  caused  by  tiiem,  the  result  of 
them  ?     Have  they  not  got  the  carl  before  the  horse  ?      Is  not  in- 


18  PROHIBITION. 

temperance  the  necessary  outgroAvth  of  present  conditions  ?  Men 
first  took  to  spirit,  when  their  own  got  at  a  low  ebb.  It  indicates 
that  our  social  conditions  are  abnormal.  Buddha  said  there  was  no 
need  of  getting  drunk,  for  man  was  naturally  enough  intoxicated 
through  the  Holy  Ghost.  Perhaps  the  angels  live  on  pure  alco- 
hol, their  organizations  not  being  sufficiently  gross  to  admit  of  a 
relapse.  However  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  connected  with  alcoholic 
spirit,  we  know  that  they  are  both  derived  from  the  same  root.  In 
Avine  and  the  vine,  Jesus  found  many  of  his  spiritual  illustrations. 
He  even  was  called  a  wine  bibber,  and  on  one  occasion  turned  dis- 
tiller. At  all  events,  so  long  as  people  are  overworked,  so  long  as 
many  can  live  in  luxurious  dissipation  withoiit  work,  so  long  as 
business  is  competitive  gambling,  so  long  as  usury  eats  at  the  vitals 
of  the  poor,  so  long  as  landlords  deprive  the  people  of  homes,  so 
long  as  woman  is  a  connubial  appendage  and  children  are  the  result 
of  passion,  just  so  long  will  the  natural  and  sweet  wine  of  life, 
which  Buddha  refers  to,  be  unorganized  and  wanting,  and  the  peo- 
ple seek  its  counterpart  m  an  artificial  stimulus. 

PROHIBITION  UNNECESSARY. 

Not  only  can  prohibition  not  prohibit,  it  is  entirely  unnecessary 
to  call  upon  the  State.  What  is  there  to  hinder  anyone,  believing 
in  prohibition,  from  first  prohibiting  its  use  from  himself  ?  Then 
if  lie  is  a  cluu-ch  member,  wliat  hinders  him  from  endeavoring  to 
make  the  practice  of  temperance  the  sole  condition  of  membership  ? 
If  he  conducts  a  manufacturing  establishment,  a  railroad,  or  a 
bank,  I  know  of  no  law  dictating  whom  he  shall  employ,  or  with 
wliom  he  will  have  any  dealings.  He  has  a  perfect  right  to  not 
speak  to  a  man  who  drinks  green  tea,  if  lie  chooses.  And  when  an 
association  of  such  has  converted  the  whole  world  to  itself,  as  it  can, 
if  it  has  the  truth,  there  will  then  be  prohibition. 

But  no  ;  this  is  not  the  line  of  action  the  prohibitionists  are  the 
most  fond  of  working  on.  This  course  would  necessitate  some  self 
reliant,  spontaneous  virtue  among  themselves,  and  then  who  would 
there  be  for  theii  to  'nvallop"  ?  Such  a  regime  would  never  do; 
t lie  cause  of  the  church  and  the  cause  of  prohibition,  would  both 
sufler  therel^y.  i 

PROHIHITION  PROMOTES  INTEMPERANCE. 
Not  only  ha.s  prohibition  no  right  to  prohibit,  not  only  is  it  im- 


PROMOTES  INTEMPERANCE.  19 

possible  to  prohibit,  not  only  is  it  uncalled  for,  but  to  attempt  to  do 
so,  is  the  worst  thing  possible  that  could  happen  to  the  temperance 
cause. 

First,  in  chasing  this  artificial  an  d  fictitious  remedy,  all  atten- 
tion is  diverted  from  the  real  one.  The  temperance  movement  is 
thereby  divided  into  two  sectarian  camps,  fighting  each  other,  ui- 
stead  of  the  common  enemy.  Educational  work  and  natural  regen- 
eration have  been  given  over  to  partisan  triumph  and  the  counting 
of  noses.  Women,  who  were  more  acquainted  with  the  recesses  of 
the  sanctuar}^  now  rise  from  their  knees  and  enter  the  lobby.  The 
priests  who  pray  join  hands  with  the  politicians  who  also  prey. 

Now  we  will  suppose  these  jjeople's  opinions  have  passed  into 
a  statute,  and  is  called  "the  law."     Their  wills  are  to  be  imposed 
on  the  community,  and  it  is  to  be  called  justice.     Is  it  a  law  that  ex- 
ists anywhei'e  else  in  the  world  of  mind  or  matter  ?      Is  it  so  con- 
structed that  it  applies  to  the  guilt  of  each  person  under  any  and  all 
circumtances  ?     O  no,  the  law  finds  no  counterpart  in  the  nature  of 
things,  nor  is  it  sufliciently  elastic  to  admit  of  an  equitable  construc- 
tion.    So  the  law  catches  a  few  innocent  people  wlio  are  made  to 
think  that  they  may  be  guilty,  while  it  serves  as  a  net  work  of  tech- 
nicality for  the  guilty  to  escape.      The  lawyers  are  fed.     The  law 
is  as  iron  clad  as  it  can  be  made,  yet  it  does  not  convict,  "it  is  not 
executed."     Yes,  here  is  where  the  trouble  lies,  for  you  have  got  to 
repeal  every  other  law  in  the  Universe  before  this  can  be  made  to 
work.     It  is  not  the  vicious  who  are  opposed  to  it,  it  is  the  virtuous, 
it  is  temperance  people  themselves.     The  law  is  a  partisan,  a  class 
law,  over  which  a  respectable  comnuuiity  is  ecpuiUy  divided.     If  a 
horse  is  stolen,  a  citizen  murdered,  woman  outraged,  or  legal  justice 
mocked,  an  indignant  populace  "Would  I'ise,  clothe  itself  with  tlie 
hurricane,  and  bearing  courts  and  juries  on  its  shoulders,  march  to 
swift  vengeance.     How  difterent  the  execution  of  the  liquor  law  ! 
These  same  high  handed  yeomanry  cannot  be  niaile  to  believe  tliat 
the  taking  of  v  glass  of  "sea  foam,"  is  anything  like  stealing  a 
horse,  much  less  ihe  source  of  devastation  to  our  land  !     They  wipe 
their  mouths,  crack  jokes,  and  wink  at  "the  law."     They  enter  into 
a  freemasoiu'y  to  break  it,  calling  themselves  "The  Personal  Liberty 
Lea":ue,"  tlie  meanest  thing  of  whieh  a  member  can  do  is  to  "iro 
back"  on  a  brother.     The  law's  violation  they  regard  as  a  duty. 
A  })rosecution  tiiey  consider  a  persecution.    Instead  of  society  being 
their  victim,  they  regard  themselves    as    the    victims   of   society. 
Juries  cannot  be  founil  to  agree,  witnesses  fail  to  appear,  or  commit 
perjur}',  to  tell  the  truth.     Ollicers  are  bribed,  politics  and  the  courts 
become  corrupted. 


20  PROHIBITION. 

The  friends  of  the  law  now  find  it  necessary  to  make  more  strict 
provision  for  its  execution.  They  move  that  prosecutions  be  taken 
awav  from  their  local  jurisdiction,  that  nobody  but  Prohibitionists 
sit  on  the  jury,  that  it  be  only  necessary  to  have  a  suspicion  in  order 
to  convict,  in  case  there  is  no  one  to  suspect,  that  the  beardless 
youth  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  be  taught  to  decoy  some  unsuspecting  one 
to  commit  a  crime,  that  every  house  be  subject  to  search  without  a 
warrant,  and  that  all  resolve  themselves  into  a  smelling  committee 
to  root  out  the  deadly  evil.  A  beautiful  state  of  society  has  now 
been  reached,  old  neighborhood  feuds  are  revived,  every  man  now 
is  a  spy  or  a  hypocrite.  The  air  is  full  of  deception  and  fraud.  The 
liquor  interest  is  active  and  ingenious.  The  flames  that  were  fanned 
now  burn  all  the  fiercer.  Men  who  never  drank  in  open  day,  now 
lind  stolen  ])leasures  sweet.  Men  who  drank  before,  now  drink  all 
the  more.  They  buy  liquor  by  wholesale  now,  and  every  man's 
cellar  becomes  a  saloon. 

It  is  under  such  a  system  of  gymnastics,  that  prohibitionists 
claim  that  intemperance  is  on  the  decrease.      They  offer  statistics 
to  prove  this.     But  how  can  they  get  at  the  statistics,  after  they 
have  been  driven  in  ?    If  it  should  be  found  that  there  was  less  drunk- 
enness, would  it  necessarily  be  proof  that  it  was  owing  to  prohibi- 
tion, instead  of  education,  or  general  prosperity,  or  climate,  or  na- 
tionality ?     Pro  hoc,  propter  hoc,  is  not  always  an  infallible  guide. 
Wliile  the  evil  of  intemperance  is  doubtless  large  enough,  it  is  no 
less  true  that  the  prohibitionists  are  not  noted  for  temperance  of 
statement  in  their  general  statistics.       Travelers  tell  us  there  is  less 
drunkenness  in  the  wine  and  beer  drinking  countries  than  in  our  own. 
Massacliusetts  long  ago  tried  prohibition,  and   has   outgrown    it. 
Maine  is  trying  it,  and  the  police  statistics  of  Portland  show  no 
abatement  of  dnmkenness,  while  but  one  man  in  fifty,  during  the 
last  presidential  election,  tliought  enough  of  prohibition  to  make  it 
national.      In  Iowa,  prohibition  has  been  in  operation  one  year  up 
to  the  Fourth  of  July  ;  and  the  testimony  of  the  mayors  of  twenty 
nine  leading  cities  and  towns,  is  that  there  are  open  saloons  in  nine- 
teen.     The  total  number  of  places  where  liquor  is  sold,    is  916. 
An  iiirrcasf  of  14G  during  the  year.     Kansas,  a  young,  agricultural 
state,  with  no  great  cities,  and  Ijut  little  foreign  population,  showed, 
according  to  Gov.  Gliok's  message,  the  following  result. 

Peumits  Issued  to  Sell  liquor. 

I.ast  year  of  Local  Option 1132. 

First  year  of  I'roliibition 17W. 

First  forty  five  days  oi  second  year 1 14«. 

Conccalt'd  nit-thods  not  stated. 


ORIGIN  AND  ANIMUS.  21 


ORIGIN  AND  ANIMUS  OF  PROHIBITION. 

Having  now  canvassed  the  outward  eft'ect  of  prohibition,  lei 
us  examine  its  inward  imi^ulse.  We  must  first  recognize  that  pro- 
hibition is  not,  primarily,  a  temperance  question.  There  are  many 
people  opposed  to  prohibition  who  have  practised  total  abstinence 
all  their  lives.  Such  men  as  Dr.  Dio  Lewis,  Howard  Crosby,  Ex 
Gov.  Robinson  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher  are  not  all  drunkards,  and 
take  no  stock  in  prohibition.  On  the  other  hand,  many  might  be 
named,  who,  while  holding  that  proliibition  is  the  best  policj'  for 
the  State  to  pursue,  still,  in  private,  think  it  perfectly  pi'oper  to  fol- 
low Paul's  advice  to  Timoth}-.  Many  saloon  keepers  in  Kansas  are 
Prohibitionists.  So  that  the  dispute  over  the  subject  arises  not  so 
much  as  to  whether  people  shall  be  temperate,  but  how.  The  matte?' 
is  not  in  dispute,  but  the  manner.  It  is  not  a  question  of  morals,  but 
of  methods,  not  whether  it  is  best  for  one  to  drinK,  but  whether  it  is 
the  function  of  the  State  to  deter  him.  In  brief,  it  is  not  a  temper- 
ance question,  but  one  concernino-  the  science  of  government. 

Now  since  the  function  of  the  State  is  to  suppress  crime,  not 
to  enforce  morals,  it  foUows  that,  if  drinking  and  selling  liquor  are 
not  crimes,  then  the  attempt  to  suppress  it  is  a  crime.  The  very 
thing  for  which  the  State  is  properly  constituted  to  defend,  it  vio- 
lates. And  because  the  perpetrators  are  deluded,  they  ai"e  exempt 
from  arrest.  But  as  between  a  fool  and  a  knave,  for  a  pilot  on  a 
dark  night,  give  us  the  one  who  can  steer  clear  of  Niagara,  though 
the  other  would  shove  us  over  with  the  best  of  intentions.  A  mis- 
take in  government  always  results  in  a  crime.  Those  administering 
it  may  be  as  sincere  and  respectable  as  Cotton  Mather,  when  he 
himg  Quakers  and  drowned  witches,  but  the  nature  of  tlieir  acts  is 
all  the  same.  It  may  be  an  open  question  which  is  tlie  most  dan- 
gerous member  of  society,  one  who  has  an  intense,  but  benighted 
conscience,  or  one  who  has  enlightenment  without  a  conscience. 

If  then  prohibition  is,  at  bottom,  but  persecution,  whence  did  it 
originate  ?  Prominent  among  the  bearers  of  this  ark  of  the  Covenant 
is  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  The  reason  given 
for  this  departure  in  temperance  is  specially  in  the  interest  of  "the 
home."  "The  Home  vs.  tiie  Saloon,"  is  their  banner.  But  the 
homes  of  the  country  are  a  subject  of  very  broad  and  varied  im- 
port. It  is  dillicult  to  s<!e  how  the  saloon  can  enter  the  houseiiold 
without  some  member  of  the  household  first  enters  the  saloon.  But 
it  is  not  an  impossible  tiling  to  conceive  how  sucli  a  member  can 
be  induced  to  leave  an  unattractive  home  to  iro  to  a  saloon.  It 
takes  a  competence,  culture,  and  donu^stic  fclicily  to  maki-  a  home. 


22  PROHIBITION. 

These  come  from  the  workers  getting  their  pay,  from  leisure,  and 
equality  and  independence  in  marriage.      Now  if  you  should  ask  a 
majority  of  these  women  why,  as  home  champions,  they  do  not 
strike  at  the  squalor  and  want  which  infest  the  workingman's  hovel 
and  the  sewing  girl's  garret,  and  you  would  be  frightened   with 
the  word  "communism,"  and  run  the  chance  of  waking  up  some 
of  the  soundest  sleepers  along  the  broad  aisles  of  the  leading  church- 
es.    If  you  should  indicate  to  these  estimable  women  the  propriety 
and  importance  of  making  marriage  a  free  and  voluntary  contract, 
in  order  to  be  virtuous,  and  they  would  scorn  you  as  an  enemy  of 
mankind.     Such  a  home,  it  is  plainly  evident,  the  priests  have  got 
a  padlock  on.     What  peculiar  kind  of  a  home  is  it,  then,  to  which 
these  women  are  so  devotedly  attached  ?    It  is  what  is  called  a 
"Christian  home.'"     These  champions  of  home  are  not  only  women 
but  Christian  women.     The  reople's  Temperance  Union  would  be  a 
most  narrow  title,  under  which  to  conduct  all  their  operations.      It 
would  not  hit  "the  liome,"  much  less  the  "Christian  home."      By 
Christian  home  is  meant,  not  a  liberty  loving  home,  or  a  justice 
seeking  home,  but  an  Evangelical  Christian  home.      (3ne  that  can 
repeat  the  Catechism,  subscribe  to  the  creed,  and  belongs  to    the 
church ! 

Now  we  have  the  true  significance  of  'the  home  vs.  the  saloon." 
Once,  when  it  was  respectable  to  drink,  the  church  was  a  saloon. 
The  minister  took  his  jug  of  New  Englaml  rum  into  the  pulpit,  and 
drank  between  acts.     It  occupied  an  equal  position  on  boanl  the  ship 
with  Bibles  and  missionaries  bound  for  the  heathen.     Now,  it  is  not 
respectable,  but  the  great  mass  of  communicants  are  in  the  saloons. 
They  hold  the  balance  of  power.      Between  them  and  the  church 
tliere  seems  to  l)e  a  rivalry  as  to  who  sliall  gain  tlie  most  Sun- 
day scliool  scholars.      While  the  church  is  immolating  its  victims 
on  a  life  to  come,  puttuig  tliem  into  tall  boxes  and  making  them  an- 
swer <piestions  whicli  they  dy  not  want  to  ask,  the  ordinary,  carnal 
niimled  youtli  much  ratli(!r  i)lay  billiards  or  go  in  swimming.    Then 
his  clotlies  are  liatdly  suilicicnt  in  wliicli  to  worship  tlic  Most  High. 
A  seat  too,  in  tlie  opera,  could  be  g(jt  for  less  ;    and  withall  he  feels 
much  more  at  home  with  an  ordinary  sinner  tlian  with  an  unnatu- 
rally  allected  saint.        In  a- word,  the  masses  have  left  the  clmrcli, 
and  sh(!  has  lost  her  hold.      Henceforth,  the  world  is  to  save  the 
church,  instead  of  liie  church  saving  the  world. 

Now  the  women  are  the  most  useful  members  of  a  church,  to 
pull  the  priests'  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.  Scenting  the  rising  dis- 
content among  women  for  enlarging  their  "sphere,"  they  say,  "Di- 
rect all  your  energy  to  a  Christian  home  iu  a  Christian  republic  !" 


END  OF  PROHIBITION.  23 

So  prohibition,  divested  of  its  skin,  is  one  form  of  church  extension. 
Scratch  a  Prohibitionist  and  there  will  show  u]}  a  God-in-the-Con- 
stitution  man.  While  there  ma}'  be  some  "liberal"  dupes  to  the 
prohibition  movement,  who  do  not  espouse  the  latter  cause,  I  can 
assure  them  that  when  it  comes  to  the  God-in-the-Constitution  be- 
liever, he  has  no  hesitancy  in  knowing  who  is  on  his  side.  Mrs. 
Ellen  Foster,  of  Iowa,  a  lawyer  and  one  of  the  chief  officers,  says, 
"The  prohibition  movement  is  but  the  first  step  towards  engrafting 
Christianity  into  the  Constitution  ;  we  shall  keep  on  till  we  have  all 
under  the  banner  of  Jesus."  There,  do  3'ou  want  anything  more 
explicit  than  that  ?  St.  John  is  a  vice  president  in  the  movement  to 
unite  Church  and  State.  This  means  that  American  institutions  be 
blotted  out,  and  that  we  be  set  back  into  the  Middle  ages.  The 
Church,  made  \\\>  of  fear,  the  State,  made  up  of  force,  and  trade, 
made  up  of  fraud,  shall  constitute  one  happy  trinity.  Three  in  one 
and  that  one, — tyranny.  The  Chui'ch  has  alwa3's  been  a  dead  head 
when  the  assessor  was  around,  now  she  aims  to  be  a  dead  beat  when 
the  constable  comes  around. 

The  amusing  part  of  this  performance  is  that  it  is  all  to  be 
brought  about  to  vindicate  the  right  of  woman  to  the  ballot !  We 
thought  that  the  only  excuse  there  was  for  meddling  with  another's 
aSairs  was  when  one  failed  to  properly  mind  them.  Now  your 
Voice  in  your  neighboi''s  business  is  justilied  in  proportion  as  you 
fail  to  mind  your  own  !  What  more  exact  statement  of  a  basis  for 
the  ballot,  than  that  persons  shall  be  put  in  possession  of  a  thing 
as  often  as  they  show  they  do  not  know  \\o\w  to  use  it.  But  if  men 
liave  made  fools  and  tyrants  of  themselves,  in  its  exercise,  have  not 
women  a  i-ight  to  an  equality  ?  That  depends  upon  wiiether  they 
exercise  that  cqiiaJity  upon  tliemselves  or  tiieir  noiglibors  !  Women 
seek  to  be  in  fasliion  ;  and  the  fasliion  with  the  best  minds  of  to  day 
is  to  find  that  form  of  social  and  Industrial  organization  which  is 
to  supplant,  not  repeat  the  present  political  system. 

ULTIMATUM  OF  PROHIBITION. 

The  proliibitory  movement,  then,  is  tlie  dying  embers  of  that 
paternalism  which  presided  at  tiie  Salem  witchcraft ;  the  dying  gasp 
of  an  effete  tiieology.  Its  adiierents  ai'e  not  Germans,  or  French- 
men, from  England,  or  from  tiie  Continent,  or  from  the  mixed  pop- 
ulation of  our  great  cities.  It  is  directly  traceable  to  the  Puritanic 
zeal  and  intolerance  in  those  country  parishos,  settled  by  tiic  New 
EQo:land  descendants  of  tlvose  who  banished  Roger  Williams  and 


2^  FROEIBITION. 

hnno-  M-irv  Dyer.     The  blood  still  tells.     In  other  states  it  has  a  fee. 
ble  existence/and  is  used  as  a  foil  for  the  God-in-the-Constitution 

^'now  whatever  be  the  side  issues,  or  the  party  name,   we  know 
that  there  is  but  one  line  of  political  eyolution.   and  that  is  in  the 
direction  of  liberty.     We  therefore  hail  our  prohibition  friends,  as 
co-adiutors  in  that  cause.     We  would  not  have  them  suppressed,  by 
•mv  means  !     Tliey  will  succeed,  but  in  a  way  altogether  different 
irom  what  they  expect.     The  good  which  their  agitation  will  accom- 
plish will  be  because  of  its  educational  influence,  not  because  of  its 
leo-al  bearing,  because  they  are  temperance  men  and  women,   not 
because  they  are  prohibitionists.     Instead  of  getting  God  into  the 
Constitution,  they  will  finally  effect  the  complete  divorce  of  Church 
and  State.      Thev  will  show  to  our  "liberaF'  friends  the  unsound- 
ness of  introducing  any  other  than  a  defensive  function,  under  the 
province  of  government.     And  as  for  these  devoted  women,  so  zeal, 
ously  attached  to  the  church,  what  can  be  said  for  them  ?    We  warn 
the   priests  of  the  dangerous  character  of  the  liberties  they  are 
concedino-       For,  no  sooner  will  these  women  have  exercised  then- 
new  fled  °ed  wings  in  one  direction,  than  they  will  begin  to  use  them 
in  another  :  must  not  this  divide  your  power  ?     Already,  a  leading 
woman,  in  a  leading  article,  in  a  leading  magazine,  discounts  the 
baneful  influence  of  Christianity  upon  her  sex.*     Therefore  vve  wel- 
come "prohibition"  as  an  adjunet  in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious 

^'  *"  When  one  looks  back  over  the  history  of  the  church,  and  in- 
quires in  what  respect  she  differs  from  other  religions,  we  arc  im- 
pressed with  the  intolerance  growing  out  of  her  "plan  of  salva- 
tion The  hypothesis  of  its  "divinity"  does  not  permit  a  doubt. 
For  if  it  is  divine,  and  the  only  one,  what  becomes  of  the  sinner 
wliile  in  doubt  ?  He  is  irretrievably  damned.  (iuite  contrary  to 
this  is  the  first  postulate  of  science,  that  a  thing  is  not  true  until  it 
is  proved.     Science  says,  if  you  do  not  doubt,  you  are  damned. 

Now  there  is  not  a  Christian  clergyman,  to  day,  retained  in  his 
place,  first  and  foremost,  because  of  his  character  or  attainment, 
lie  may  be  very  wise,  and  pure,  and  lovable,  yet  if  he  hoUls  o  no 
nart  of  this  "plan,"  he  cannot  be  an  ordained  clergy-man.  There- 
lore  intolerance  and  arrogance  are  their  cardinal  characteristics. 
These  celesiastics,  by  nature,  never  lead  the  life  of  '^^y^^;  ^^^^ 
•  It  IH  with  innnito  sorrow  that  I  see  carncnt  wonu-n  wasting  so  much  enthnsl- 

lion."  whercvi-r  they  ftnd  it,  whether  in  church  or  slatc.-itfr«.  EhzaOeth  taay 
Stanton,  in  the  North  American  Review. 


VIOLATIONS  OF  LIBERTY.  25 

and  the  Prophets,  in  their  time,  were  always  opposed  to  them. 
Being  bound  to  an  institution  which  never  changes,  nor  graduates 
its  pupils  until  they  die,  they  always  reflect,  the  prevailing  sentiment 
of  the  time.  Their  seven  scriptural  principles  are,  practically,  re- 
duced to  the  live  loaves  and  the  two  tishes.  Nor  is  this  derogatory 
to  any  trade,  when  it  is  not  aided  by  privilege  or  false  pretense. 
Where  there  are  a  great  many  priests,  there  sin  abounds.  The  peo- 
ple are  led  to  think  that  it  is  the  latter  which  causes  the  former. 
Statistics  show  that  the  clergy  furnish  more  criminals  than  any  other 
class,  the  saloon  keepers  unexcepted.  Yet,  the  saloons  have  never 
demanded  that  the  churches  be  suppressed.  They  only  ask  that  they 
stay  at  home.  There  is  just  as  much  reason,  from  a  slrct  reciproc- 
ity, why  the  churches  should  1)e  taxed  to  support  the  saloons,  as  that 
the  saloons  should  be  taxed  to  support  the  churches.  Jehovah  must 
be  swapped  for  a  natural  standard  of  reciprocity  among  men. 

WAYS  THE  PEOPLE  LOSE  THEIR  LIBERTY. 

The  encroachments  of  authority,  are  veiy  insidious  in  their  ap- 
proach One  avenue  by  which  the  peoj^le  lose  their  rights  is  through 
the  everlasting  "minor."  The  "law  and  order"  leagues  are  now 
working  their  greatest  racket  over  these  young  men,  who  are  minoi'S  ! 
As  though  every  saloon  keeper  kejjt  a  family  register  of  every 
youth  that  passes.  A  young  man  is  of  age  when  he  would  buy  a 
revolver,  but  he  immediately  loses  his  majority,  the  moment  he 
asks  for  a  glass  of  beer  !  In  one  case,  the  parent  is  properly  respon- 
sible for  its  oft'spriug,  in  the  other  case,  the  saloon  keeper  is  respon- 
sible !  The  infantile  part  of  creation  is  a  fruitful  held  for  pater- 
nalists  to  jjet  in  their  work.  Tlie  solicitude  of  mothers  is  nuthinjr 
when  compared  with  their  watchful  eyes. 

And  then  the  popular  superstition  about  the  Sabbath,  makes 
a  tine  stake,  in  the  name  of  the  saloon  keeper,  upon  which  to  crucify 
liberty.  God  is  good  and  needs  our  worship  :  worship  is  akin  to 
rest ;  rest  should  be  compulsory  for  people  will  overwork ;  when 
not  at  work,  they  get  into  mischief  ;  the  better  place  for  tliem  tlien 
is  in  churcli  ;  all  competition  should  be  destroyed,  in  order  that  they 
may  go  !     Do  you  see  the  logic  ?     The  chain  of  title  is  complete  ! 

Ao-aiu  it  will  be  noticed  that  these  restrictions  are  urtjed  airainst 
a  class.  Now  the  individual's  liberty  is  rarely  ever  violateil  by  a 
class,  except  it  come  in  the  form  of  the  State.  Therefore  any  such 
ground  for  restriction,  may  be  at  once  set  duwn  as  a  bid  iov pdrtisan 
prejudice,  in  order  to  obtain  party  supremacy.      Their  great  cry  of 


26  PROHIBITION. 

"protection"  is  for  themselves.    They  are  so  zealous  for  the  "public 
o-ood"  that  thev  would  crowd  it  down  the  people's  throats  !  _ 

°       The  people  having  no  definite  standard  for  government,  admit 
the  restriction,  without  protest ;  it  is  recognized,  acquiesced  in  ;  con- 
tinued acquiescence  gives  consent ;  consent  makes  a  contract ;  and  a 
contract  settles  a  thing.      One  false  restriction  leads  to  another. 
The  first  has  been  established  as  a  precedent,  by  which  an  inequal- 
ity of  conditions  is  admitted,  and  there  is  then  no  end  to  govern- 
mental tinkering.     Separate  violations,  at  last,  run  together  into 
one  chronic  disease.      This  disease  is  called  government.     Its  i\r- 
annv   at  last  becomes  'vested'  and  'divine' ;  to  question  it  is  treason 
andWasphemy.    The  people  are  "the  m-asses,"  the  "lower  classes. 
Their  general  degradation  is  so  stereotyped,  it  is  attributed  to  a 
second  law  of  nature,  where  they  must  forever  remain.      They  are 
subservient,  degenerate,  and  only  know  how  to  imitate  and  obey. 
Tlie  individual  lias  been  absorbed  by  the  county,  the  county  by  the 
state,  the  state  by  the  nation.     The  rulers  are  a  set  of  despots,  liv- 
mo-  on  war  and  taxes.     The  people  have  lo^t  their  liberlij. 

"  Now  prohibition  utilizes  all  these  methods  in  m-esting  away 
the  people's  liberty  First,  their  interpctation  of  the  principle  of 
o-overnmcnt  is  false  :  second,  the  precedents  they  adduce  to  sustain 
Their  position  are  false  :  third,  they  seek  to  accomplish  their  ends 
by  means  of  class  prejudice. 

THE  TWO  KINDS  OF  GOVERNMENT  CONTRASTED. 

Now  picture  to  yourself  two  communities   where   tliese   two 
kinds  of  goveVnment  are  in  operation  ;    one   paternal,    the   other 
defensive  ;  one  the  regulator  of  morals,  tlic  other  a  suppressor  of 
crime      In  one  of  them  (Jod's  inspiration  flows  down  through  the 
eaves  of  the  orlliodox  .Inuch  un.l  passes  along  in  conduits  of  uni- 
form order.     There  are  no  saloons,  but  tlie  people  drink  just  the 
same.     There;  are  no  houses  of  prostitution,  l)Ut  llie  people  are  just 
as  uncliaste  in  their  lives.     Tliere  are  no  gambling  dens,  but  every 
one  desires  to  overreacli.     Tliere  are  no  erroneous  views,  but  the  or- 
thodoxy is  musty  and  mouldy  with  age.     IHaving  all  public  places 
of  vice  sui)prcssed,  it  is  now  our  duty,  if  the  law  is  correct  in  prin- 
ciple, not  to  allow  it  to  be  evaded  in  private.     And  since  no  law  is 
of  any  avail,  unless  it  is  executed,  private  houses  should  be  put  un- 
der guard.     Detectives  and  tlie  secret  seiwice  should  be  introduced. 
Whei-c  every  body  is  suspctrtcd,  but  no  one  detected,  decoys  must 
be  (•iuph>ycd  to  tn,q,l  the  olVence.     Tl.e  ollicers  must  .show  enough 
.rame  to  "make  their  .services  needed.      In  detecting  immorality  ev- 


GOVERNMENTS  CONTRASTED.  27 

ery  body  must  either  become  a  hypocrite  or  a  kuave.  At  last  an 
eruption  bursts  fortli  througli  this  repression.  Peoijle  ai"e  assassin- 
ated, poisoned,  put  away  mysteriously.  Now  it  is  Russia,  now  Ire- 
land. Nobody  knows  who  is  safe.  The  community  is  as  moral  as 
a  peuitentiar}-,  and  every  body  is  trying  to  break  jail.  A  Puritanic 
sabbath  reigns,  but  it  is  over  the  corjases  of  a  Saint  Bartholomew. 
Such  is  the  logical  termination  of  a  community  governed  by  pater- 
nalism.    Beginning  with  dictation  in  morals,  it  ends  in  crime. 

Pass  now  into  the  other  community,  whose  one  compulsory  rule 
is  the  equal  liberty  of  all.  Everything  is  natural,  and  spontaneous. 
There  are  all  kinds  of  morals,  as  there  are  all  kinds  of  people. 
There  are  different  standards  as  to  purity,  and  every  body  has  his 
own  opinion.  Do  you  ask  if  they  do  not  make  mistakes,  if  there 
is  not  immorality  ?  Suppose  we  grant  there  is.  But  there  is  also 
crime,  you  say.  But  the  distinguishing  feature  of  this  community 
is  equal  liberty ;  that  everyone  should  have  his  own  business  and 
mind  it.  And  in  doing  so,  they  have  a  clear  idea  of  tvhere  their  so- 
cial duties  begin  and  leave  off.  They  find  they  cannot  all  be  pater- 
nal to  one  another,  but  must  be  fraternal.  In  discarding  morals 
from  their  government,  they  are  all  doubly  jealous  about  crime. 
They  will  brook  no  trespassing.  Each  having  his  own  rights  knows 
those  of  his  neighboi's.     Perfect  liberty  makes  perfect  order. 

How  now  about  the  morals  ?  For  the  sake  of  illustration,  we 
have  conceded  these  were  bad.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  con- 
ceive of  a  low  state  of  morals  under  such  a  government.  For  when 
force  has  withstood  force,  and  order  prevails,  the  best  ideas  of  liv- 
ing must  come  to  the  top.  Liberty  is  the  very  breath  of  truth.  Nor 
is  this  all.  Under  a  defensive  government,  every  intlividual  is  the 
source  of  sovereignty.  Not  until  people  are  integers,  until  they  are 
separate,  can  they  come  together  and  co-operate.  The  people  now 
standing  separate,  being  free  and  independent,  must,  of  necessity, 
voluntarily  asssociate  anil  co-operate  As  they  do  so,  their  govern- 
ment for  defense  falls  into  disuse,  as  being  unnecessary  and  expen- 
sive. As  co-operators,  they  finil  that  a  unity  of  interest  leads  them 
to  where,  by  each  working  for  all,  all  will,  in  turn,  be  working  for 
each.  This  is  the  .solidarity  of  mankind,  brought  about  \:y  the  free 
and  independent  interchange  of  the  parts.  Which  kind  of  govern- 
ment would  the  reader  choose  to  live  under, — that  which  beirins 
with  saints  and  ends  with  demons,  or  that  which  begins  with  tlie 
average  inilividual  and  leaves  him  a  saint  ?  In  a  word,  that  of  pa- 
ternalism, or  that  of  ciiual  liberty.  Such  is  the  problem  which  pro- 
liibition  presents  to  us. 


28  FROHIBITION. 


WORDS  OF  WARNING. 

Let  us  profit  by  past  experience.  Let  us  learn  the  principle 
of  liberty.  Principles  are  greater  than  measures  or  men :  and 
the  principle  of  liberty,  well  defined,  is  the  greatest  of  principles. 
He  who  is  on  the  side  of  liberty,  cannot  but  be  on  the  side  of  tem- 
perance. When  all  this  zeal  is  spent,  this  gush  exhausted,  still 
will  abide  the  star  of  liberty.  Beware,  then,  that  your  sympathy 
and  o-enerosity  be  not  imposed  upon  by  any  false  clamor  for  the 
"public  good."  Know  well  that  "law  and  order"  are  inseparable 
with  equal  liberty,  and  that  true  temperance  cannot  be  advanced 
by  the  constable,  but  by  education,  growth,  and  better  conditions. 
Scrutinize  well  the  hoofs  and  horns  of  this  blind  crusade,  that  would 
make  its  inroad  upon  popular  government  by  exciting  prejudice 
against  a  certain  class.  Permit  no  false  construction  of  paternahsm 
under  the  name  of  "protection,"  to  barter  away  the  right  of  private 
contract !  Indignantly  repel  every  such  encroachment  upon  a 
purely  defensive  government. 


THE   REORGANIZATIO^l    OF 


BUSINESS 


"Put  Monet  in  Thy  Purse."— /agro.         '-There's  Millions  in  It."— Coi.  Sellerg. 
Motto:— BUILD  AND  BOYCOTT. 

IN  a  previous  issue,  we  ascertained  that  the  first  principles  of 
Co-operation  were  Liberty  and  Equity,     We  showed  what  they 

were  and  their  mutual  relations.  We  found  that  majority  I'ule, 
in  government,  must  give  wa\'  to  equal  sovereignty,  and  pi'ofit,  in 
commerce,  give  place  to  cost ; — one  the  rule  for  properly  minding 
one's  business,  the  other  the  basis  of  common  honesty. 

Now,  the.«e  invisible  laws,  if  such,  are  just  as  operative  when 
disobeyed  as  when  obeyed.  Tlie  only  part  which  we  are  asked  to 
perform  is  to  adapt  ourselves  to  them  in  our  organization.  In  ex- 
amining the  working,  of  the  present  profit-making  system  we  shall 
lee  wherein  they  ai"e  violated,  and  how  to  apply  the  remedy. 

THE  GENERAL  SITUATION. 

As  we  look  over  the  tendency  of  the  general  business  world  what 
do  we  find  ?  A  concentration  of  capital,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  di- 
Tision  of  labor,  on  the  other.  If  every  co-operator  will  imagine  him- 
self in  the  position  of  the  body  poli  ic,  we  will  indicate  his  present 
condition.  First,  if  we  regard  the  telegraphic  system  as  corres- 
ponding with  his  nervous  organization,  we  find  it  entirely  manipu- 
lated by  one  man,  and  he  a  stock  gambler.  His  muscles,  the  rail- 
roads which  draw  off  all  natural  resources,  are  subject  to  a  'pool,' 
wherever  there  is  any  competition.     His  blood,  the  curi'ency,  which 


2  THE     sex. 

courses  through  his  veins  and  arteries,  is  coutrolled  by  a  J«^li^ate 
of  Shvloeks.  literally  establishing  all  prices.  And  tlus  three-fo  d 
nower  bv  its  monopoly  of  the  land,  the  mines,  the  forests,  the  fish- 
eries niachiuery  in  production  and  all  means  of  employment,  is 
able  to  bind  the  hands  and  garrison  the  stomach.  Then,  after  hay- 
incr  all  as  if  there  wa.  more,  the  insatiable  greed  of  proht,  wmdd 
even  rise  up  over  the  very  bones  of  its  itnmolated  victim  and  bellow 
forth  its  dissatisfied  rage,  in  'the  public  be  d-d,^-as  the  case  ^vlll 

hear.  .      ,         i  i         .. 

On  the  other  hand,  look  at  the  unorganized  producers  and  consu- 
mers who  pay  tribute  to  this  organized  presumj.tion.  Go  among 
the  cumbrous  and  revolving  machinery,  and  vhev  are  a  part.  The 
machine  however  gets  oiled  when  it  needs  it  for  it  is  owned,  but 
only  the  services  of  the  operator  are  owned.  Harnessed  to  steam,  all 
his  functions  are  automatic,  mechanical  and  monotonous.  Has  he 
a  place  to  stav  ?  By  paving  rent.  Has  he  a  corporation  store  ?  1  o 
prevent  his  ever  having  the  money  with  which  to  run  away.  He 
even  has  not  an  assurance  of  work  any  longer  than  it  will  declare 

a  dividend.  . 

Are  the  farmers  better  off  than  the  operative  ?  Not  it  they  had 
to  buv  everything  in  dollars  and  cents.  What  can  they  not  aftord 
providino-  it  can  only  be  paid  for  in  work,  work  is  the  cheapesji 
( ommodftv  the  farmer  knows,  money  tlic  dearest.  Is  it  not  noted 
that  agricultural  laborers,  both  as  to  the  number  of  hours  they  work 
and  tlfe  compensation  they  receive,  are  nearer  to  Feuchil  serfdom 

than  any  other  class  ? 

But  sui)pose  we  finally  come  to  the  general  con.sumer.  are  the 
prices  of  the  articles   he  buys  at  all  governed  by  that  wonderful 
law  of  the  economists  called  supply  and  demand  ?     ^ot  one,  every    . 
leading  article  has  had  the  price  set  beforehand  by  a  combination. 

*  President  Gowen.  of  the  Heading  railroad,  defended,  before  the  Pennsylvania 
Legilturc,  hiK  part  in  the  coal  con,..inationK.  on  the  ground  that  he  had  to  recip- 
rocate with  the  re.-l  of  the  tra  dc,  for,  said  he :-  .  .    ,        u, 
..Every  pound  of  rope  that  we  buy.  for  our  ve.Bels.  or  f-;";';  "'>"-•-  ^"^^fj 
ata  oriee  fixed  by  a  coninnttee  of  .he  rope  manufacturers  ol  the  I  nUtd  btate». 
EverrUeg  of  "Hil".  every  paper  of  tack.,  all  our  .crewe  and  wrenches  "'hI  »""p«. 
fhe     oiler  nue"  for  our  locomotive.,  are  never  bought  except  at  the  pr.ce  fixed  by 
t  le  ^"vJJn^wL  of  the  null,  .ha,  manufacture  them    Iron  beam,  for  your  ho««- 
e    o    your  br  dge  .  can  b.  had  only  at  .he  price,  agreed,  upon  by  a  con^b.nauon  of 
tSoTe  wS.  p  od^.ce  them.    Fire  brick,  ga.  pipe,  terra  cot.a  pipe  for  drainage,  every 
kcglf  powder  we  buy  to  blant  coal,  are  purchased  under  the  .au.e  arraugen  en.. 
Every  pane  of  win.K.w  gla..  in  .hi.  hou.e  wa.    bought  at  a  .cale  of  P"«-  -  "''- 
H^^ed  'exactly  in  the  .ame  manner.      White  lead  galvanised  ^''cet  -n  Jio.e  J.elt^ 
l,.g  and  file,  are  bought  at  and  .old  a.  a  rate  detenn.ned    n  «»^e  ^a.nt  way 
Lord,  of  Induxtry,  by  H.  1).  Lloyd,  in  .he  North  American  Kevlew,  June,  1884. 

There  are  30()0  memberH  of  the  New  York  Produce  Exchange,  whereas  W,  prop- 
erly organSd  in  the  inlcreHts  of  the  producern.  could  easily  handle  all  the  business. 


VO-OFEBATION.  3 

Anil  Ix'foie  c;oiul)ined  monopolies  of  such   niouslruu>  jiiojxntions. 
the  people  retire  in  subservient  antl  appalling-  apathy. 

INSUFFICIENCY  OF  G0VJ:RNMENT  AID. 

Now  it  is  evident,  to  reach  these  evils,  we  must  have  uational 
CO-  opei'ation,  but  this  is  a  diflereut  thing  from  govenmental  co-op- 
eration. There  are  some  so  totall}'  confiding  as  to  suppose  that  tlie 
government  can  aid  them  out  of  their  difiicult\-.  Such  credulity  is 
beautiful  to  see,  were  it  not  lacking  in  sagacity  to  supposes  that 
government  can  ever  become  a  grand  bureau  of  philanthropy. 
When  that  bureau  is  established,  it  will  be  the  one  missiu"'  article 
in  its  furniture.  How  did  wise  men  come  by  the  idea,  that  the  far- 
ther back  one  goes,  there  is  no  government,  while  the  farther  for- 
ward you  come,  government  increases  ?  Just  the  opposite  is  the 
case.  The  great  inaugural,  the  culmination  of  governmental  au- 
thority, the  palmiest  days  of  the  era  of  "law  and  order'  were  when 
savage  beasts  roamed  the  wilds,  and  i-ent  the  air  with  their  ferocious 
howling.  Then  government  began,  in  aggression,  and  by  it  it. has 
always  lived,  and  when  it  ceases,  the  government  will  be  no  more. 
For  this  is  its  last  analysis  describing  its  species.'' 

But  there  are  certain  well  meaning  ones,  who  hold  the  same  rela- 
tion to  authority  in  government,  that  others  do  to  the  same  in  reli- 
gion. They  think  that  they  will  remedy  the  source  of  one  party's 
oppression  by  substituting  that  of  another.  Thinking  they  see  a 
law  that  needs  'repealing,'  they  feel  it  their  duty  to  be  drawn  into 
the  cogs  of  the  political  machine.  And  so  they  defraud  themselves 
and  nature,  by  repeated  attempts  to  galvanize  new  life  into  this 
great,  secular  superstition. 

Every  article  is  bought  and  sold  forty  or  fifty  times  while  delivered  but  once.  In 
the  city  there  are  also  ll.'io,  brokers,  which  probably  average  $,5,irtHi  a  year,  to  cover 
expenses.  Cotton,  wheat,  corn,  and  other  cereal  products,  lard,  pork,  bacon,  butter 
cheese,  oil,  iron,  steel,  copper,  ifec,  have  been  added  to  the  list  of  things  bought  and 
sold  on  margins. 

*  The  basic  idea  of  all  past  governments  has  been  force,  not  liberiy.  Itemanaten 
from  a  central  head,  oran  arbitrary  power.  The  pretest  for  the  exercise  of  its  au- 
thority  is  to  make  men  good,  wise,  pure  and  moral. 

Now  cooperative  government  does  not  meddle  with  people's  pursuits,  nor  aim 
to  make  their  acts  moral,  good,  wise,  or  pure.  Its  authority  emanates  fiom  no  cen. 
tral  head  or  arbitrary  power     Its  use  of  force  is  to  counteract  and  destroy  it, 

Iheref  re.  they  are  opp  site;  where  one  commences,  the  other  leaves  off ;  until  one 
is  destroyed,  the  othercannot  prosper.    Such  a  brutal  monster  has  government  ever 
been,  there  is  no  doubt  that  when  it  is  outgrown,  there  will  be  a  peaceable  reeiproc. 
ity.    The  cry'of   anarchy,' isonly  the  cry  of  sacrilege  by  the  worshiper  of  his  idol. 


^  THE     TUN. 

The  only  wholesome  way  to  'repeal'  a  'bad'  law,  is  to  ignore  it, 
as  no  law  at  all,  and  to  organize  for  the  substitution  o  the  real  law 
^atis  ever  active,  self  executing,   and  whose  authority  never  can 
be  glsaid.    There  are  no  laws  in  nature  that  need  to  be  'repealed.' 
Anfwhen  ^e  are  organizing  in  harmony  with  them,  there  are  no 
other!  hat  we  need  fo  fear.     The  high  water  mark  to  its  oppression 
ronlY  reached  when  the  people  are  too  ignorant  to  help  themselves. 
The  In  who  sincerely  enters  nolitics  to  help  you  may  be  innocently 
demented  at  lirst,  but  he  cannot  long  remain  there  without  becoming 
unrntlsly  corrupted.     History  is  full  of  ^^-ted  lives  and  hopes, 
which    if  thev  had  had  a  natural  foundation  upon  which  to  build 
^^h  'have  moved  the  world.      The  organization  of  business  is  so 
To^ln  to  the  prooer  function  and  organization  of  government  tha 
t  cannot  aid  us      An  animal  with  fins  cannot  perform  the  functions 
of  one  hav  nc^^^^  As  so  much  dynamite,  it  can  blow  out  one's 

braTns,  but  ircann'o t  put  them  back  again.     It  may  destroy  the  out- 
ward symbol,  but  it  cannot  disturb  an  organized  idea. 

PROFIT  IN  PRACTICE. 

If  then  we  are  alone  to  look  to  the  reorganization  of  business 
for  aid   let  us  examine  more  closely  into  the  ways  of  profit.     When 
im::g  savage  tribes,  it  was  well  in  its  place,  but  ^^^^^ 
of  Pivflized  life  now  cause  it  to  be  unreciprocal.      However,  naa 
iTlento  iLeK,  the  free  course  of  things  would  have  long  smce 
reduceli    ti   abor  cost.      But  in  order  that  all  competition  migh 
be  destroyed,  fraud  struck  hands  with  force,   and  entrenched  .tf 
behind  the  government.     It  is  the  organic  lavv  of  proh^,  hke^a  cow 
ard.  that  it  must  have  some  advantage  in  order  that  it  may  bnng 
1  aemana  to  tke  supply.     The   greater  this  ^f^^^^^^^J^l^^^^^ 
urgent  the  demand,  the  higher  the  profit.     Unti   f  ^^^^'^.^^"^^^^^^ 
has  this  profit-making  organisation  become,  that,  bke  a  g  eat  liades 
Union,  with  starvation  on  one  hand,  and  'overproduction    on 

Hlternative  left  to  it,  except  to  reciprocate  w^h  profit  ?     What  began 
asatyran..  now  continues  as  a  conspiracy  among    laves^      1 
weaker  will  surely  go  to  the  wall  and  the  «  -°g-/-«"^^^^^^^ 
Does  anyon..  suppose  that  they  can  inaugurate  cost  ?      "^  " 
their  destruction       They  cannot  tell  what  cost  is  from  then  stand 
point.     Such  an  organization  must  begin  with  the  people^      Trade 
i  tself  is  waiting  for  them  U>  start  the  initiative.      Until  they  do     , 
profit  must  keep  on  centralizing  until  co-operation  is  a  necessity. 


CO-OFERATION.  5 

Now  what  is  the  nature  of  this  advantage  that  all  the  producers 
and  consumers  can  be  controlled  by  a  few  speculators  ?  Is  not  the 
producer  the  tirst  possessor  ?  Does  not  the  consumer  pay  the 
profit  ?  And  has  such  a  power  no  advantage  over  the  speculator's 
necessity  ? 

THE  FULCRUM  OF  POWER. 

We  saw  that  the  real  advantage  of  profit  consisted  in  its  being 
able  to  bring  the  demand  to  the  supply,  and  that  each  consumer 
was  the  outlet  for  the  profit  on  that  supply.  Then,  is  there  any 
other  alternative,  except  to  reverse  the  pi'ocess  by  organizing  the 
consumers  so  as  to  bring  the  sux)ply  to  the  demand  ?  This  will  relieve 
profit,  serve  as  an  inlet  for  production  and  exchange,  turn  profit  to 
cost,  an  oligarchy  to  a  democracy,  the  corporation  to  co-operation, 
and  mark  the  evolution  from  a  chaotic,  competitive,  commercial 
cannibalism,  to  that  of  an  ordei'ly  and  scientific  organization  of 
business. 

THE  PEOPLE'S  POOL.* 

The  nature  of  this  consolidation  of  the  consumers  is  to  pool  their 
custom  and  hold  it  together  so  as  to  dictate  the  terms  upon  which 
it  shall  be  served.  The  association  is  voluntary  and  guided  by  self- 
interest.  For,  each  one's  custom  being  his  own,  he  has  a  right 
to  do  with  it  as  he  pleases.  It  is  therefore,  not  a  combination,  or 
clique,  aimed  against  anybody,  but  a  co-operation  of  the  whole 
people  against  a  false  system,  for  universal  ends.  It  is  not  a  new 
expenditure  of  power,  but  a  simple  change  of  attitude.  "Whereas 
I  once  supported  usury  and  found  it  grievous  to  be  borne,  1  now 
relinquish  it.  and  suppoi't  it  no  longer.  Hereafter,  "as  for  me  and 
my  bouse,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 

Its  Power. — Since  the  trader  must  follow  his  customers,  the 
withdrawal  of  custom  from  one  place  and  the  casting  it  in  an- 
other is  able  to  build  up  and  break  down  trade.  The  consumers 
become  'boss'  instead  of  the  trader  ; — if  anybody  is  to  'be  damned' 
it  is  he,  not  'the  public'  Moreover,  this  consolidated  custom,  as 
a  commercial  franchise,  is  a  very  valuable  piece  of  pi'operty. 

We  now  have  the  driving  power  and  balance  wheel  of  co-oper- 
ation, constituting  the  great  monopoly  of  the  people.     It  remains 

*  The  writer  humbly  declines  any  credit  for  originality  in  the  use  of  this  word. 


THE     SUN. 

for  us,  according  to  the  law  of  individuality,  to  attach  the  difterent 
machinery.     In  doing  so,  let  us  begin  with  the  store. 


PAKTI:— THE  STORE. 


Its  Economy.— Om-  customers  being  secured,  we  have:  — 

(1)  No  advertising  to  do  in  order  to  get  them.  They  were  easily 
obtained  at  first,  and  they  will  always  remain.  Nor  do  we  need  any 
shop-window  or  side-walk  displays  to  catch  the  passer-by.  We  need 
no  parade  within,  to  show  our  goods,  only  a  few  samples  with 
their  quality  and  price  attached. 

(2)  Our  rents  are  small.  We  have  no  occasion  for  the  main 
street,  the  thorough-fare,  or  the  costliest  corners.  Nor  need  we 
fear  our  landh^rd  will  raise  the  rent  because  he  thinks  we  cannot 
move  and  carry  away  our  custom. 

(3)  Our  stock  is  small.  For,  being  acquainted  with  the  custom- 
ers' needs,  we  know  what,  how  much,  and  when  to  buy.  Our  goods 
are  fresh,  in  date,  and  not  shop-worn. 

(4)  Onv  capital  need  not  be  large,  or  idle,  for  our  goods  will  be 
turned  often.  And  let  it  be  here  understood,  that  our  store  is  not, 
primarily  a  deposit  of  supplies,  with  the  design  of  bringing  custom- 
ers to  it,  but  an  exchange  depot,  a  commodity-clearing  house,  with 
only  such  things  on  deposit  as  cannot  be  exchanged  direct,  without 
the  intervention  of  a  middle  man. 

(5)  Our  clerical  force  is  mucli  less,  since  our  customers,  m  buy- 
in''  from  themselves,  have  no  interest  in  consuming  another's  time. 
Our  delivery,  also,  makes  shorter  drives,  and  the  hours  for  keepmg 
open  8toi-e  can  be  much  reduced. 

(6)  The  number  of  stores  to  each  community  is  now  determined, 
an  item  of  much  greater  importance  than  the  number  of  clerks  rc- 
quiritd  for  each  store. 

The  stability  of  the  store  is  a.ssured  from  the  fact  that  the  cus- 
tomers are  pledged.  Wherea.s,  under  profit  and  high  prices,  96 
per  cent,  failed,  now  under  cost  and  low  ones,  100  per  cent,  succeed. 

Tlius  we  see  that  the  pool,  in  controlling  trade,  possesses  under 


"^ 


CO-OPEHATJO]^. 


Z!l.r'\  """i  "T""""'"  "''^""^-^"^  '^''''   ""    profit-making  system 
can  begin  to  duplicate  its  prices.  ^   ^y^^em 

The  PooVs  L^m^laUons.~\^ni  as  the  pool  has  had  a  function  to 

fou  dTo'bT  r"  't:\^''''' '' ^"^  ^^^•«"^^^-  ^*^-  '^^ - 

teims.     It  maj  advertise  for  proposals,  or  servants,  or  appoint  a 
trustee   secretary,  agent,  or  executive  committee  of  one,  to  act  L 
.  ,  bu    having  made  its  contract,  it  has  nothing  more  to  do    unl  s 
.t  be  to  see  that  it  is  fuimied.     It  does  not  go  to  keeping  sL      2 
become  resolved  into  a  'joint  stock  company.'  " 

THE  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

in  i^'is  t^^Z''  "  "'"  '';'"  ""^""'  ''^'  '''  f"-»-n.  -d 
resnonsib le      (  '"""^^"     ^"'"'^  '''  ''  ''''  '^«  «^°°«t '-  naade 

not  unit  J    but  a  harmomous  working  of  free  and  independent  part, 
ts  executive  department  is  something   more  than  greennes      1 , 
the  one  hand,  and  irresponsibilitv  on  the  otler   iv.JYuT 
^  mediocrity.     Co-operation  must  C^^h.:     '  ^     i^;:::: 
body  s  busmess  is  nob.>dy^s.     It  must  command  better  sei^ices   ban" 

people  can  extend  greater  pecuniary  reward,  and  second    i,  i.  ,.;/ 

tbepre.sentprom.nakingsv.steM,  "  "'"'  ''=""  ^"^^^'••-'" 

THE  CONTRACT. 

^va'^^t^T'"  r!'  '''*'  ""'"'"  """  ^^'"^  iudependent  in  law 
*..  1  p.a  t.ce,  the  conditions  of  the  contract  are  to  be  consichM-.-.i 
I  he  customers  constitute  the  first  party.      Thev  are  not     hi 
aci*<*nt  f).«  »;...»  .  ^       "^         * '"^j  are  not  ODli":ed  to 

aci-ept  the  hrst  or  .second  application.     Situated  as  thov  m,-.     . 

p's,;  zr:";:::.t'".r.- '""'" "-' ■-''.'"."; ;.'::.; 

L  ..«,■<  f'''';'  7^^'«-    H'-^ compensation,  to  insure  support,  should 
contnbute  to  ,t  m  pn,port,on  to  rh.  service  ren.lered  to  each.     So 


THE     SUN. 


in  the  delivery,  those  only  should  pay  for  »  *-fj''°  ^"  l'.^-'^''',! 
Persons  and  thinjs,  whieh  do  not  belon";  together,  should  be  lett 
rZrateb    free  to  act  in  their  spheres,  and  be  made  re^on.Me^ 
r^diMon,  to  promote  emnlation,  the  -'ore*-r-  -£  ,P™P"'^ 
be  allowed  a  pereentage  on  all  sales  over  a  -P^-'-f  ^^  ' ^^^_ 
But  what  if  he  should  say,  this  poohng  f  "g™^"' '=^,'':"; 
„hat  new   I  have  no  assurance,  other  than  their  word,  that  they 
;m luarlntee  so  much  trade.     How  could  the  agreement  between 
Them  pirtake  of  a  business  character,  without  some  eons.derat.on  ? 
ThT  would  have  to  be  whatever  they  cotdd  "S-  upon^an*  be 

riternti  wir^nrr  ^Brhr  To^^n:  h"^^^^^ 

besides  what  >^  ^'V-'^^^.  /  „„  ^^,,^  j^,  „!,,,  *««  be  would  need 
L'belerrd.  \l:  X  po„l  sbouM  gain  customers,  then  it  would 
"ofro-rha^irtLomcrswould  require  the  s.re..eeper 

•"Tircrtite'ta^'bf :™r";;^to .^  <^ir..^^ 

Jl  price..  (3)  That  it  should  he  'narteiopen^-  (4  The 
,„a«,  and  .raOe  of  go<K,s  to  be  '^P^^;^^^,^^'^  VJ  trust. 
tations  to  be  guaranUed.  (6)  t'""  Vj  „„s.«r  to  he  appointed 
lfaf;rc"Jrth:'eXrs  ta^-^'arT^volce  Of  the^goods  at 
tt;"m'ar;tp  lee.  '^^^J"^^' -^T:^:^::..  the 
But  who  will  -™'  ;  '-  „"^  ::i„,  ^Zm  necessitate  putting 
customers,  or  both.  "  ""^  °"'"""  J  ,„,.„i,h  one  half,  it  should 
the  store-keeper  under  bonds.      U  they  tm "  ^  .^ 

„e  as  an  i-Oepe-dent '»":  -^t-wotw^rFor^tL  store-keeper 

The  better  and  simple.  "^>;  °";\;™-^„j  ^b„„t  „„„  Hfth  of  what  is 
to  furnish  ,t,  as  we  »>>al    A"      '  to  ^    >,,,  ^^  ^^  ^__^  .__  ^^^__^^___ 

:rttr:!^irv,r;:nbe.Ie::eSer  hanking  and  production. 
NATIONAL  PURCHASINU  SYNUICATE. 

We  have,  then,  now  organised  a  local  store,  whose  organism 
under  -cost,'  is  wholly  different  from  that  under  PjfJ;;^*;  ^^^ 

=:,t':::n:;"^;::;:r::ro;;^^^^^^^^^^     -  the  same 

S::g":T,upi:a.e^of  the  one  a,..^^^^^^^^ 
and  the  Btore-keeper.      As  the  customers  miy 


CO-OPERATION.  9 

keeper,  so  the  store-keeper  buys  of  this  central  purchasing  syndi- 
cate. As  the  stoi'e-keeper  is  independent  of  the  custom,  so  is  the 
syndicate  independent  of  the  store-keeper.  A  repetition  of  the  same 
development,  except  on  a  difterent  plane. 

The  goods  now,  for  each  retail  store,  ai'e  bought  in  bulk  by  the 
syndicate  from  the  manufactory  without  the  intervention  of  any 
wholesale  house.  The  goods  come  direct,  are  fresh,  in  style,  in  mod- 
erate quantity,  and  at  bottom  prices.  In  progress  of  time  this  syn- 
dicate may  have  a  representative  in  every  state.  And  as  consumers 
are  also  producers,  and  buyers,  sellers,  there  will  be  a  universal 
exchano;e  or  brokerao;e  of  commodities.  Have  and  Want  will  find 
an  automatic  clearance,  and  the  number  of  'middle  men'  be  reduced 
to  perfect  accuracy. 

COMPETITION. 


Now  that  our  Monitor  is  fairlj^  launched,  it  will  be  seen,  from 
the  pool's  nature,  that  it  must  have  a  tight.  But  her  victories  are  in 
the  interests  of  peace.  We  make  no  war  upon  ti'aders  in  the  com- 
petitive, pi'ofit-making  sense.  We  rather  pity  their  lot,  and  would 
gladly  assist  tiiem  in  imloading  their  goods.  But  some  capitalists, 
superlatively  wise  in  tlieir  own  conceit,  will  not  be  run  ashore  by  a 
'cheese  box.'     They  will  break  us  up,  if  it  takes  their  last  dollar. 

Now,  while  our  ca])italist  is  just  cutting  under  our  prices,  and 
drawing  away  our  custom,  how  can  we  keep  up  our  expenses  ?  We 
do  not  aim  to  'make  money,'  neither  have  we  any  to  lose.  In 
the  tight,  tlien,  with  capital  shall  we  not  go  down  ?  No,  two  ways 
are  open.  First,  our  store  is  so  lightly  equipped,  it  can  stand  a 
running  tire,  until  we  exhaust  our  adversary's  exchequer.  Second, 
our  pool,  in  guaranteeing  a  minimum  of  custom,  can  alibrd,  for  such 
great  advantages,  to  keep  its  organization  idle.  For,  the  moment 
it  should  die,  capital  would  again  put  up  its  prices  to  cover  its  loss. 
But,  if  it  only  sells  at  cost,  we  can  then  undersell  it,  for,  fi'om  the 
nature  of  our  organization,  their  cost  price  is  above  that  of  our's. 

If  we  had  no  opposition,  what  should  we  be  good  for  ?  The 
point  is  however,  in  so  overcoming  our  opponent,  as  to  be  accelera- 
ted in  our  progress.  So  that  our  capitalist  would  not  ouly  lose  his 
trade,  but  his  capital  also.  And  where  would  he  tind  it  ?  In  the 
hands  of  the  pool.  For,  the  process  we  are  inaugurating,  is  the 
transfer  of  one  system  into  that  of  another.  Just  as  a  wine  mer- 
chant, by  means  of  a  syphon  transfers  a  full  cask  into  an  empty 
one.  And  in  this  operation  w«  work  with  nature  and,  as  by  force 
of  gravity,  are  reinforced  by  all  her  power. 


THE     SUN. 


PROFIT.  —DIVIDENDS. 


■But/'  it  is  said,  "if  you  reciprocate  with  the  trade,  and  do  not 
sell  at  cost,  you  will  meet  with  no  (competition. '^  But  that  is  jtist 
the  opposite  of  what  we  have  set  out  to  do.  It  is  the  profit-making 
system  from  which  we  have  fled.  The  whole  of  the  laborer's  cause 
is  wrapped  up  in  labor.-cost.  It  is  the  secret  of  our  economy,  it  dic- 
tates the  outward  character  of  our  store,  and  inspires  its  inward  har- 
mony. Cost  is  our  begining  and  end,  our  anchor  and  destiny,  the 
only  real  profit  to  any  individual,  and  the  only  profit  for  all.  -'But 
would  not  everybody  come  to  the  store  ?'' 

"But  outsiders Vould  then  get  their  goods  as  cheap  as  those  wiio 
first  formed  the  pool  ?''     True,  but  had  we  these  outsiders  to  be- 
gin with,  we  should  have  never  needed  to  form  any  pool.     They 
are  preserving  the  objects  of  the  pool,  to  get  their  goods  at  cost^ 
and  we  shall °oon  need  them  to  further  the  cause  of  co-operation.* 
•'But  should  not  the  first  contributors  of  money  receive  some  divi- 
dend?"    But,  the  making  of  a  loan  is  a  separate  aftair  from  the 
selling  of  goods,  and  will  be  further  treated   under   co-operative 
bankhig.     "Then  are  we  to  have  no  profit  ?"  cries  our  interlocuier. 
So  far  from  it,  that  unless,  through  the  store,  we  can  attack  privi- 
leged usury  itself,  "the  savings  of  the  store  may  prove  a  greater 
cm-se  to  co-operators,  than  ootatoes  have  been  to  Ireland,  or  rice  to 
the  Chinese.     For  then  would  the  holders  of  land  and  money  make 
U{>  the  difference  in  wages. 

English  Co-opemtion.  — What  is  the  .sole,  economic  and  organic 
secret  of  the  English  co-operator's  success  ?     Nothing  but  having 
his  custom  previously  pledged.     Why.  then,  should  he  discrimin- 
ate against  those  wiio  would  help  him  swell  that  custom  ?     If  the 
dividl-nd  of  twenty  five  cents  on  a  sack  of  flour  behmgs  to  him,  why 
docs  he  not  take' it,  on  the  spot,  when  it  is  due,  without  the  check 
system  ?       And  what  about  those  other  co-operators,   who  raist'd 
and  ground   the  flour  ?       Do  they  not  deserve  a  dividend  ?     But 
this  would  leave  the  purchaser  twenty  live  cents  out   of   pocket. 
What,  then,  is  the  English  co-operator's  great  weakness?     This 
nibbling  at  profit.     How  couhl  he  be  expected  to  throttle  the  vam- 
pires of  his  native  Isle,  while  fishing  for  minnows  from   the  mouth 
of  a  shark  ?     For,  is  it  not  this  very  system  which  leaves  (ill  laborers 
out  of  pocket  ?  ^ 

*  8ince,we  do  no  advertising.  <)'>r  new  custoiiiern  will  mainly  come  through  the  re- 
ports of  the  old  oncH.  and  will  Hub^fcril^e  to  the  i-riiK  iplcH  of  a  concern  from  which 
they  derive  bcncfll.  It  ix  the'luw,  where  nogooln  .irr  hoM  for  proiii,  to  cl;is8  it  a» 
a  charitahle  iuxtltnlion,  requiring  n  o  'license.' 


C(j-oprrat[on:  u 

Then  imagine,  if  you  can,  each  laborer  strutting  as  a  small  'cap- 
italist.'' Hear  him  deliver  his  mind  of  such  sapient  utterances  a 
these  :  "Tlie  whole  trouble  with  labor  does  not  lie  in  the  system, 
but  in  human  nature.  Would  he  but  leave  off  dissipation  and  lazi- 
ness, any  slave  might  soon  become  a  master.  The  real  rea.son  the 
country  is  going  to  the  dogs,  is  because  laborers  themselves  are 
unwilling  to  sufficiently  'retrench,''  and  this,  in  turn,  brings  on  an 
'overproduction'  "  He  even  relieves  God  of  all  responsibility  in 
his  make-up,  by  declaring  himself  a  'self  made'  man,  and  capable  of 
standing  along  side  of  Jay  Gould.  A  most  incorrigible  'co-opera- 
tor' is  he,  who,  once  having  been  a  slave,  has  become  an  overseer! 

• 

OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED. 


We  will  now  attempt,  in  further  elucidation,  to  answer  some 
objections  that  might  be  brought  against  the  pool.  And  first, 
does  it  seem  impracticable  to  pool  a  custom  before  there  has  been 
a  store-keejjer  selected  ?  But  would  the  objections  not  be  gi'eater 
afterward  ?  If  the  pool  selects  its  own  store-keeper,  would  it  not 
insure  greater  satisfaction  ?  And  where  all  are  interested,  would 
not  the  selection  be  a  proper  one  ? 

But  the  pi^ople  are  not  ready  or  sulHciently  wide  awake  to  form 
a  pool.  But  there  are  some  j)eople  sufficiently  interested  to  form 
one  pool,  the  first  one,  when  all  outsiders  will  be  drawn  into  it.  If 
this  cannot  be  done,  then  nature's  method  of  bringing  the  supply 
to  the  demand  can  never  be  accomplished.  But  you  will  have  all 
sorts  of  cranks  who  will  imnKnliately  stamp  your  movement  with 
ridicule  and  throw  it  into  contempt.  But.  it  is  not  necessary  that  i  t 
should  assume  that  cast,  while  it  is  guiiled  by  a  reform  itlea.  its  re- 
alization is  purely  a  nuitter  of  business. 

But  the  majority  in  your  pool  would  domineer  the  rest.  How 
could  they,  when  the  conditions  of  membership  are  voluntary,  with- 
out fees,  and  with  every  one's  interest  kept  separate  ?  But  to  begin 
with,  you  elect  the  store-keeper  by  a  nuijority  vote,  and  there  arc 
two  candidates,  each  having  friends,  and  one  might  come  within  a 
few  votes  of  being  elec^ted,  would  not  such  an  infriuiremeiit  of  the 
rights  of  the  minority  break  the  pool  ?  No,  for  the  benefits  accru- 
ing from  remaining  in  it,  would  mon;  than  counterbalance  those 
received  by  staying  out.  Nor  would  anyone's  liberty  be  infringed 
by  being  permitted  to  choose  that  which  he  liked  best. 

Bxit  supposing  tlie  character  of  the  pool  should  be  so  entirely 
changed,  by  the  majoritv,  as  to  divert  it  into  a  jon it-stock  profit- 


j2  THE     SUN. 

makiucr  concern  ?  Then  of  course  the  minority  would  be  justified  in 
formin-  another  pool,  by  dividing,  and  each  going  its  way.  But,  if 
there  is  no  binding  obligation,  the  pool  will  be  like  a  flock  of  sheep. 
But  our  obligation  is  internal,  based  upon  self  interest.  There  is  n. 
other  required  :  where  compulsion  is  necessary,  dissolution  begins. 
But  would  not  contracts,  thus  made,  rest  upon  an  insecure  founda- 
tion ?  But  a  contract,  to  be  binding,  must  be  voluntarily  made. 
After  we  ao-ree  to  guarantee  a  minimum  of  custom,  we  are  willing 
to  secure  the  store-keeper  against  all  risk,  in  his  venture  on  our 

^^  In  turning  profit  into  cost,  what  is  cost  ?     The  labor  cost,  first, 
that  enterino-  into  the  raw  material,  next,  its  manufacture,  last,  its 
distributionr including  insdranoe,  waste  and  expense.     But  this  is  a 
circuitous  and  complicated  transaction.     Assuredly,  but  xifree  the 
natural  course  of  supply  and  demand  will  adjust  itself  to  the  labor 
cost      But,  on  'change,  there  are  now  fluctuations  every  mmute. 
Yes,  to  artificially  produce  them  is  the  life  of  profit,  but  when  we 
eet  one  normal  exchange,  the  crops  will  determine  prices.      But 
can  one  expect  to  compete  with  small  Jewish  second-hand  stores 
where  the  wife  lives  in  the  rear,  takes  boarders,  tends  the  baby,  and 
waits  on  the  store,  without  any  cost  ?     No,  we  do  not  desire  to  com- 
pete in  that  direction,  below  co^U  and,  when  the  full  influence  of 
our  oro-ani/.ation  is  felt,  no  one  we  hope  NviU  be  compelled  so  to  do. 
But°is  not  co-operation  the  most  delusive  of  words,  else,  how  so 
many  faih.res  ?       The  Sovereigns  of  Industry,  started  well,    but 
finally  failed.       But  this  was  not  owing  to  the  fact  that   co-op- 
erative principles  would  not  work,  but  because  they  were  wrongly 
interpreted  and  applied.      Periiaps  the  exponents  in  those  move- 
ments now  see  that  their  failure  was  less  owing  to  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  people  to  be  lead,  than  to  the  imperfection  in  their  plan 
of  organization.     Such  failures  only  emphasize  the  practical  impor- 
tance''of  a  study  of  the  first  principles  of  .social  and  economic  action. 

REVIEW. 

Now,  as  the  Lord  looked  upon  Creation  and  'pronounced  it  good.' 
let  us  take  a  parting  glance  at  the  store.  Can  its  ™*";^g^";'«°^ 
be  abused  ?  Not  unless  a  liberty  has  been  granted  without  a. 
equal  responsibility.  Can  its  custom  break  up  ?  No.  for  they  have 
voluntarily  followed  their  self  interest.  But  may  they  no  altei  the  r 
minds?  Yea.  and  in  the  change  of  management,  we  have  made 
provision  for  growth.  We  do  not  claim  to  alter  human  nat^re^ 
only  lo  have  put  greater  inducements  in  its  way  for  honesty  tha. 


GO-OPEBATION.  13 

dishonesty.  And  as  for  the  economy  of  the  store,  how  could  it  be 
improved  ?  Is  not  the  interest  of  buyer  and  seller  identical  ?  Can- 
not the  best  goods,  in  any  market,  be  bought  for  the  least  money  ? 
This  should  he  the  final  test. 


PAR  r  II :— THE    BANK. 


WE  now  have  the  store,  where  everything  can  be  bought  that 
money  can  buy,  as  a  miniature  world  for  the  circulation  of  our  cur- 
rency. Soon  production,  which  will  be  needed  to  furnish  the  stoi-e 
with  supplies,  will  make  the  complete  round  of  exchanges. 

A  JUST  AND  SCIENTIFIC  CURRENCY. 

But  what  is  it  that  we  have  to  exchange  ?  We  have  seen  that 
'cost"  at  the  store,  was  to  be  the  basis  of  the  price,  and  'cost'  \\\\\ 
dictate  the  pi'ice,  at  the  factory.  What,  then,  must  a  currency  be, 
to  sandwich  these  two  conceptions,  unless  it  be  a  labor  currency  ? 

Is  all  property  and  prosperity  to  dance  at  the  caprice  of  one 
small,  shiningjfetich,  called  gold,  and  this  in  the  hands  of  profes- 
sional gamblers  ?  It  cannot  be.  But  can  we  any  the  more  accept, 
as  a  substitute  out  of  this  dilemma,  the  issuing'  of  multitudinous 
paper  promises  to  pay  that  which  we  have  not  got,  never  will  have, 
and  which  does  not  exist  !  Most  surely  not.  Then,  too,  what  is  a 
paper  dollar  ?  It  must  have  some  objective  reality,  besides  being  a 
mere  chimera  of  the  imagination.  If  it  is  not  gold,  then  what 
other  commodity  is  it  ?  No  other.  Then  it  is  not  any  particular 
commodity.  Can  we  not  then  see  that  the  birth  of  t\\e  first  paper 
dollar  was  the  logical  and  inevitable  end  of  the  last  specie  one  ? 
For,  between  the  two,  there  is  no  middle  ground. 

But,  if  the  dollar  represents  no  special  commodity,  yet  passes 
in  exchange  for  all  commodities,  what  is  its  real  standard  of  value  ? 
Plainly,  labor,  that  which  underlies  all  commodities,  including  gold 
itself.  And  what  is  its  par  standard  ?  The  average  labor  in  the 
most  common  avocations. 

We  need,  then,  to  change  the  old  nomenclature,  and  for  dollars, 
to  insert  the  new  standard,  'hours  of  labor."      For,  if  for  ten  hours 


14  THE     SUN. 

labor,  I  get  seven  hours  labor  and  three  dollars,  must  I  not  again 
measure  my  three  dollars  by  labor,  before  I  can  count  my  money  ? 
And  if  in  doing  so,  I  tind  that  the  dollar,  measured  by  the  natural 
labor  products  of  the  country,  is  not  worth  more  than  fifteen  min- 
utes of  my  labor,  then  I  should  find  myself  ijreatly  cheated. 

Likewise,  any  commodity  other  than  gold,  as  a  measure  of  labor, 
would  be  as  unsuitable,  with  which  to  make  contracts.  If,  iustead 
of  a  labor  note,  I  take,  for  my  service,  an  order  for  a  bushel  of 
wheat,  and  carrying  it  a  year,  present  it  to  the  farmer,  the  changed 
conditions  of  production  might  bankrupt  him,  or,  when  considering 
the  cost,  might  bankrupt  me.  For  the  average  product  of  labor, 
during  that'time,  would  be  other  than  a  bushel  of  wheat.  But,  the 
labor,''throughout.  remains  the  same.  Therefore,  it  can,  at  any 
time,  both  measure,  and  redeem  all  commodities.  It  is  the  only 
just  statement  of  the  elements  in  the  human  equation  between  the 
contracting  parties.  It  correspoud.s  with  the  only  defensible  postu- 
late concerning  property  and  price,  and  a  currency  which  is  just, 
may  be  said  to  contain  nearly  all  the  elements  of  a  perfect  one. 

A  FREE  CUIillENCY. 

Having  provided  against  the  inherent  injustice  in  the  gold  dol- 
lar, let  us  proceed  to  rout  it  from  the  royalty  of  its  bankii  g  prerog- 
ative. In  oliiiM-  words,  to  put  a  sto^)  to  the  toll  it  in.po.ses,  as  apart 
of  profit,  and  which  it  styles  interest. 

If  a  paper  dollar  can" be  issued  on  a  tirtitious  gold  dollar,  it  can 
be  issued  on  a  house,  that  will  sell  for  gold  dollars.  If  in  one  ease 
the  interest  is  saved  to  the  banker,  in  the  other  case,  it  is  saved  to 
the  property  holder.  And  when  the  value  of  the  house  is  so  many 
more  times  that  of  the  gold,  it  is  easy  to  see  which  will  be  the  lirst 
to  "suspend  specie  paynuMit."  For,  as  it  happens,  when  the  bank 
fails,  its  real  specilic  basis  is  the  assets  of  its  patrons.  Now,  un- 
less the  sinner  is  greater  tiian  its  redeemer,  what  is  now  being 
done  under  usury,  can  be  done  at  cost,  providing  the  property  hold- 
ers only  hav(;  tlitf  proper  machinery. 

Hut  is  the  way  to  do  this  perfectly  open  to  all  our  givernmeutal 
brethren  ?  If  not,  we  shall  have  to  stop  and  give  them  a  lift,  for, 
unless  the  ground  of  action  c(»mmends  itself,  we  shall  be  (tailed  'im- 
practical.' Let  us,  th.'ii,  briefly  state  the  grounds  for,  and  the  na- 
ture of  «  free  currency. 

First,  we  have  the  riyhl  to  make  exchanges.  This  right  is  only 
.second  to  the  right  to  produce.  Without  it,  surplus  products  must 
perish  on  the  spot.     And  in  expediting  exchanges,  parties   have 


CO-OPE  RATIOS.  15 

the  right  to  issue  such  commercial  paper  at<  will  make  a  record  of 
the  transaction. 

Inseparable. — Neither  can  this  fiiuction  be  s(;parated  from  the 
exchange,  or  the  right  to  make  a  contract.  Nor  is  there  any  power 
that  can  prevent  it.  since  to  do  so,  would  put  an  end  to  commerce. 
Utility. — Without  local  self  goveriiaieiit  in  Jii:iince,  how  can  all 
credit  be  made  available  ?  But  witii  il.  even  tlie  demands  of  the 
pawnbroker  can  be  met  and  satisfied. 

Indispensable. — And  we  are  furtlier  pn^parevl  to  prove  that  no 
cuiTenoy  can  be  normally  got  into  circailation  except  through  loans, 
payment  for  services,  or  damages,  which  are  all  subject  to  local 
application. 

Elasticity. — How  in  any  other  way  can  its  volume  be  regfulated, 
except  it  be  free  to  regulate  itself.     Just  as  loaves  of  bread  are  I'eg- 
ulated,  by  the  natural  law  of  supply  and  demand. 

Usefulness. — The  reason  that  a  home  currency  is  as  useful  tis  a 
general  one,  arises  from  the  fact  tliat  95  per  cent,  of  it  would  be 
spent  at  home,  most  of  it,  in  going  to  the  store,  on  Saturday  night. 

Economy  and  Safety. — Besides,  a  IocmI  currency  is  less  liable  to 
forgery,  owing  both  to  the  small  inducement  to  do  so,  and  the  greater 
(diance  for  detection.  It  is  also  unnecessary  to  add.  that  the  more 
local  the  administration,  the  more  economical  and  efficient. 

Solvency. — It  is  thought  by  some  that  onl}'  a  government  cur- 
rency is  solvent,  and  that  all  othei  is  'wild  cat.'  So  the  Catholic 
tliinks  that  only  Papal  infallibility  is  solvent,  anil  that  all  Protestant- 
ism is  'wild  cat.'  So  the  Anglican  church  looks  u[)ou  all  volunta- 
ryism, as  the  death  of  religion.  Whereas,  the  history  of  American 
religion  shows  it  to  have  been  solvent,  only  as  it  has  been  frc(>.  So 
of  the  faith  in  things  financial.  While  the  promissory  notes  of  busi- 
ness men  are  preferred  at  alow  discount  at  the  b;tnk.  one  lialf  of  our 
State  and  municipal  securities  aie  either  at  default,  comi)r<uniscd, 
or  repudiated.  No  national  gov(^rnment  ever,  nominally,  paid  its 
debts.  Probably,  there  never  will  be  one,  for  no  oil.er  reason  than 
because  they  have  been  paid  so  many  times  already.  For,  next  to 
the  multiplication  tabic,  there  probably  is  notiiing  truer,  than,  tlial 
to  pay  a  debt  once,  in  whatever  form,  is  just  as  good  as  to  |>ay  it 
999  times.  An<l  'the  people,'  who  are  con.siantly  paying  the.se, 
over  and  over  again,  will  com(^  to  the  conclusion  that  tiiev  will  rest 
while  the_coupon-cutters  work.  ••  But  such  a  doctrine  would  not 
be  reciprocal  in  private  life."  No,  when  parties  voluntarily  make 
a  bad  contract,  let  them  nnitually  be  held.  But  when  an  irrespon- 
sible class,  contracts  debts,  for  class  purposes,  and  supports  them  by 
party  supremacy,  with  whom  does  it  recinmeati'  ':"  Such  debts  .lo 
not  po.ssess  in  law  one  element  of  a  solvent  contract.     They  are  not 


.g  TEE     SUN. 

voluatarv,  iust,  or  certain  of  fulfillment.  Had  there  been  a  con- 
Ircting  party  he  died  long  ago.  If  there  are  any  -  reveres  -1^ 
as  to  suppose  the  'public  faith'  can  be  any  greater,  or  '^^ff;--*  f  7 
private  faith,  that  is  their  risk.  Between  the  bondholder  and  the 
bondman,  as  between  the  slaveholder  and  the  slave,  we  side  with 
the  latter.  'Public  faith,'  first,  toward  labor,  then  private  contribu- 
tions for  bondholders  is  our  motto. 

When  one  remembers  all  the  depreciations  of  com  for  revenue, 
its  inflations,  end  contractions  to  suit  a  creditor  class,  its  periodic 
hard  times  to  rob  the  poor,  and  its  panics  to  throw  into  convulsions 
legitimate  enterprise,  one  is  led  to  damn  the  solvency  of  such  a 
co"ncern,  and  the  stupidity  of  all  its  abettors.* 

On  the  contrary,  individuals  are  responsible,  in  law.  They  own 
property  which  can  be  attached.  And,  by  local,  voluntary  associ- 
ation, they  can  become  as  general  as  they  please  :  and  where  the 
whole,  individually  agree  to  be  responsible  for  each,  a  sohdanty 
of  credit  is  obtained. 

It  was  probably  through  the  influence  of  some  such  considera- 
tions as  these,  which  caused  Plato  to  say :  "That  currency  is  best 
which  is  good  for  its  own  time  and  place,  and  worthless  everywhere 
else  ''  Certainly,  to  organize  such  a  one,  is  the  easiest  part  of 
co-operation.  On  every  hand,  we  see  tickets,  orders.*  checks,  notes, 
and  various  forms  of  commercial  handwriting,  which  are  examples 
of  a  non-interesL  bearing  currency. 

THE  MOBILIZATION  OF  CREDIT. 

Let  m,  then,  show  how  easily  the  machinery  for  a  non-interest 
bearinsr  currency  can  be  practically  put  in  operation.  A  half  dozen 
customers  of  the  store  decide  to  pool  theirjiredit. 

"T^ol^ETHOi.  .  Wbilc  we  sympathize  ^vith  the  Greenbacker.  a.  to  the  end  he 
huB  m  view,  a  non-inter.  M  bearing'  currency,  a.  that  is  what  the  greenback  assured  y 
L  we  dive;ge  as  to  n^thoUK  He  begins  with  the  government  and  leaves  off  wUh 
,he  individual:  we  begin  with  the  individnal.  and  le  .ve  off  when-  he  began.  He 
egurdl  the  present  governmental  machinery  as  a proner  medium  for  finaneu^lco.o^ 

.ration  :  while  we.  in  onr  analysis  of  the  function  of  governmental  sovereignty,  can 
find  no  ...round  for  its  either  issuing,  or  regulating  the  currency.     ";' ^.^g"'™ 
laws,  and  atten.pln  to  repeal  them  :   while  we  do  not  recognize  that  they  <^reUyi^: 
and  would   peaceably  or,  anize  to  ignore  them.     1'*^^ '^^^j''' "P°"  VT-' wWle    he 
while  we  would  aid  ..ur.elves.     One  does  not  see  how  this  can  be  done  .   while  the 
other .  annot  see  how  anything  can  Iv  accomplished  in  any  other  way.      *'«  0"^  °« 
walls  legislative  nBurpatlon,  while  the  other  bewails  the   Btupid-ty  of  poUtica 
organization. 

^he  corporations  already  have  their  co-operative  storee;  and  are  now  doing  a  free 
banking  buBlness,  in  the    «rm  of  'Btore  orders,'  over  the  heads  of  their  employees- 


CO-OPERATION.  17 

Occasions  for  Credit. — One  wants  to  lay  in  his  winter's  coal,  one 
to  pay  his  taxes,  one  to  release  a  sewing  machine  from. pawn,  one 
to  pay  a  doctor's  bill,  another  to  buy  stock  to  which  to  feed  his 
surplus  corn.  You  may  say  these  occasions  lor  credit  grew  out  of 
old  conditions.  But  this  does  not  obviate  the  necessity  for  their 
relief.  These  parties,  being  of  difierent  employments,  may  be  able 
to  balance  these  exchanges,  or  nearly  so,  on  book  account,  and  so 
require  but  little  money  except  for  the  purpose  of  making  'change.' 

Object. — But  the  primary  object  of  this  credit  mobilier  is  to  move 
one  man's  stock  for  another's  coal,  without  intei-est,  and  to  utilize 
the  old  currency,  in  paying  off  it.s  interest  bearing  debts. 

Method. — And  to  do  so,  we  appoint  a  broker,  to  break  up  the  far- 
mer's property,  and  under  a  general  mortgage  deed,  as  secui-ity,  to 
issue  several  little,  transferable  ones,  of  different  denominations. 
After  the  deed  of  trust  has  been  made  out,  for  the  purposes  stated, 
the  broker  turns  engraver  and  with  his  pen,  on  the  spot,  writes  out 
the  scrip,  for  the  farmer  to  sign,  and  the  thing  is  done.* 

System.~Bnt,  uniformity  of  method  as  to  security,  length  of 
loans  &c.  will  now  be  needed.  We  should  say  that  one  half  of  the 
assessed  value  of  improved  real  estate,  for  the  last  tc7i  years,  would 
allow  sufficient  security,  for  a  year's  loan  ;  and  that  an  elevator,  or 
warehouse  receipt  on  grain  &c.  would  serve  as  security  for  ninety 
days.  Of  course,  through  endorsement,  other  security  could  bo 
rendered  available.  The  individuality  of  function,  and  the  volun- 
tary independence  of  each  individual  should  be  preserved.  Co-oper- 
ators cannot  become  incorporated,  except  as  they  do  it  themselves, 
through  their  right  of  private  contract.  Then,  if  they  are  sued,  it 
will  be  as  individuals.  However,  this  does  not  prevent  them  all 
from  enlisting  in  the  defense.  Neither  is  it  incompatible  with  a 
mutual  contract  to  be  severally  responsible,  in  the  form  of  insurance, 
for  the  unavoidable  shortcomings  of  each.  This  would  constitute 
a  local  solidarity  of  security. 

National  Association.  —Now  if  these  local  associations  should 
agree,  for  facility  of  exchange  among  themselves,  to  issue  ten  per 
cent,  on  these  local  securities  we  should  have  a  national  currency. 
And  if,  as  with  the  local  solidarity,  the  whole  should  agree  to  be  re- 
sponsible for  the  failure  of  any  separate  association,  we  would  then 
have  a  national  solidarity  of  credit,  the  most  solvent  imaginable. 
But,  before  then,  through  letters  of  credit,  bills  of  lading,  commer- 
cial reports,  the  telegraph,  in  conjunction  with  our  stores  and  pur- 
chasing syndicate,  a  national  clearance  can  easily  be  effected. 


*  We  purpose  to  be  here  a  little  flippant,  to  divest  this 'ransaction  of  Its  mystery. 


l,s  THE     .sex. 

Credit  Slrategetic. — We  must  now  remember  that  the  emergen- 
cies arising  out  of  the  present  relations  between  labor  and  'capital,' 
invite  die  display  of  some  new  and  original  tactics.  We  see  the 
Trades  Unionists  out  of  employment  and  starving,  while  the  wheat 
of  t  he  Grangers  is  rotting,  and  they  out  of  money.  What  is  to  unite 
these  interests  except  a  new  manipulation  of  credit  ?  There  are 
thousands  of  men  yeai'ly  going  on  a  'strike,'  and  millions  fleeced 
from  the  farmers,  in  exorbitant  transportation  rates.  Both  the  rail- 
roads and  the  manufactories  would  be  glad  to  get  on  their  knees 
and  beg,  in  view  (if  a  new  application  of  credit.  Then,  again,  there 
is  the  present  creditor  class,  few  in  numbers,  but  setting  their  trap 
and  waiting  for  the  game.  Now,  we  know  just  how  much  gold  there 
is  in  the  country,  should  we  not  know  where  it  is  ?  For,  having  an 
organization  of  business  completed,  what  is  there  to  hinder  our 
turning  the  tables  npon  them  if  but  one  man  in  ten,  on  Saturday 
night,  should  hoard  his  $5.  gold  piece.  The  National  banks  threat- 
ened Congress,  cannot  Inhor.  properly  organized,  threaten  both  ? 

^SIMPLICITY  OF  LABOR  CREDFr, 

How  dirt'erent  now  the  laborer's  credit  from  Shylock's  credit. 
We  have  been  extricuitiny:  ourselves.  One  entailed  debt,  distress, 
and  was  always  prospecting  how  and  when  it  could  take  advantage. 
But  the  other  is  so  simple,  I  had  almost  said,  it  needs  no  credit. 
For  what  does  labor  need  credit  if  it  gets  jiaid,  will  there  not  be  suffi- 
cient lloating  capital  ?  There  is  no  stringency,  for  which  it  must 
borrow,  to  get  out.*  And  it  cannot  'speculate'  or  gamble,  for  if  it 
should  lose,  as  one  party  must,  there  is  no  natural  law  that  could 
(enforce  the  collcclion  of  debts.  No,  an  cxaxit  and  complete  equiva- 
lent passes  in  all  transactions.  There  is  no  interest  lo  compute,  no 
'investments,'  no  'divid(;nds.'  But  how  improvements  go  forward, 
and  of  such  a  solid  character  ;  and  natural  resources  are  developed, 
iiaiid  in  }ian<l  with  lalior.  Tlicrc!  is  no  'watered  stock'  now,  nor 
iiitcrcsf  bcaiidir  boml'^.  tnc  ljridir<!S,  the  school-houses,  the  nuirket- 
iiouscs,  th<;  water  works,  the  railroads  are  all  binlt  without  inter- 
est. No  more  'hard  times,'  'suspensions,'  'panics.'  For  the  gold 
dollar,  l)oth  as  to  its  intrinsic  nature,  and  its  mode  of  issue,  has  be- 
come transformed  into  a  Labor  Dullar. 

'I'lirrc  !iro  two  kinds  f)f  (Todit.  Credit  at  cont,  and  credit  moiio|oly.  Or'ditfor 
Hix'ciilatiiin  iinil  cn'djt  for  lahor  exchange.  C)ne  enslaves,  the  ottier  lit)ei'nte». 
One  rreatPH  debtH,  the.  otlier  does  not  enforce  their  collection.  One  produceB  bank- 
riihtcv  and  panics,  the  other  fails  only  when  the  crops  fall.  Then  enhanced  price?; 
cancel  the  loss.    These  two  credit  svstems  should  not  be  confounded. 


CO-OPERATTON.-  19 

Bit,  if  equity  should  not  prevail,  but  be  compromised  with  protit 
and  a  cheap  commercial  spirit,  should  the  acceptor  of  credit  go  wild 
over  his  uew  'perpetual  motion,'  or  the  prospective  value  of  corner 
lots,  then,  somebody  will  get  his  security,  and  he  never  will  be  in  a 
position  again  to  borrow,  without  interest ;—  partly  on  account  of 
the  risk  incurred,  and  partly  owing  to  his  necessity.  Again  has 
the  labor  dollar  become  one  of  gold  ! 


PART  III:-rilE    FACTORY. 


Now  we  have  the  capital,  hurrah  !  With  it.  we  have  helped 
many  a  poor  fellow  out  of  the  grasp  of  Shylock.  Now,  ho !  for 
the  employme.'it  <;ffice  ;— and  there  are  iifew  who  will  apply  !  All 
sorts  ;  and  cannot  wc  handle  them  ?  What,  not  those  who  want 
to  woi-k")  Of  course  we  can.  Labor  now  employs  capital,  instead 
of  it  employing  labor.  The  "capitalists'''  are  more  sorely  in  need 
»)f  labor  now,  than  labor  is  of  their  capital.  We  can  undersell  them 
by  ten  per  cent,  the  lirst  leap.  Besides,  we  now  have  our  goods 
already  sold  before  they  are  made,  without  any  canvassers,  commis- 
sions, Of  'overproduction.'  But  we  must  attend  to  those  deraand- 
itig  work.  And,  strange  to  say,  they  come  in  faster  than  our  stores 
need  supplies.  They  are  ditiicult  to  classify,  some  are  tramps,  some 
broke  jail,  some  are  colhige  graduates,  aiany  can  do  nothing  well, 
all  are  in  search  of  an  'cnsy  job."  Now  these  people  must  be  guar- 
anteed immediately,  somctuing  tliat  all  can  do,  for  subsistence, 
sf'cond.  what  each  likes  to  do,  and  can  do  best,  third,  they  must 
have  a  chance  to  learn  what  they  would  like  to  do,  but  cannot. 
Those  that  are  skilled  laborers  of  course  find  employiui-nt  in  tlu;  fac- 
tories, while  those  th:it  arc  iniskillcd,  are  set  at  some  plain  mechan- 
ical pursuit,  go  on  to  the  land,  or  become  apprentices. 

Now  for  the  kind  of  maiutgement,  and  the  ethical  relations  tliat 
shall  exist  between  'lai)(jr  :u'd  capital.''  One  must  b»'  satisfied,  the 
other,  secured.  In  elucidating  this,  let  us  suppose  that  the  capital, 
or  plant,  is  entirely  owned  by  one  man,  and  according  to  individu- 
ality of  function,  is  conti-oUed  by  hira,  wliat  is  to  determine  tlie  law 
of  harmony  between  employer  aiid  employee? 

Their  Mutual  Jielalion.^.~T\\e  manufacturer  has  the  machine, 
but  all  that  it  is  good  for  is  to  be  run,  and,  if  idle,  it  will  require  la- 


THE     SUN. 

bor  to  keep  it  in  condition.  On  the  other  hand,  the  laborer  want, 
the  means  of  employment,  whereby  he  can  -t>l-  ^^  -b^r  to  the 
best  advantage.  Now,  how  shall  the  machine  be  kept  m  tact,  and 
what  shall  be  the  wages  for  work  and  superintendence  . 

Co77ipensaiion   and   Exploitation.-Theve  are  but  two  wajs  to 
settle  this.     One  is  to  debit  the  use  of  the  machine  to  .^he  laborer 
and  credit  him  with  his  product.     The  other  is  to  debit  him  with 
his  product  and  credit  him  with  an  allowance  for  subsistence  whik 
he  is  employed.     Between  these  tw^o  positions  there  is  no  middle 
ground.      In  one  case,  there  is  compensation,  in  the  other,  income 
This  income  is  made  up  of  interest  and  skill.     But  we  have  disposed 
of  interest ;  how  now  shall  laborers  dispose  of  the  reward  for  super- 
intendence ?     By  putting  it  up  at  auction.      The  one  who  can  be 
found  that  will  do  the  work  best  for  the  least  money  will  decide 
the  compensation.     How  will  it  compare  with  menial  labor  .      A3 
to  the  supply,  there  will  be  many  who  can  till  the  position,  and  as 
to  the  demand,  it  will  be  preferred  to  menial  labor.     While  respon- 
sibility consumes  more  vitality,  all  other  considerations  are  in  favor 
of  the  labor  that  contains  the  least  drudgery.      Probably  Vander- 
bilt  would  prefer  to  do  the  work  he  now  does,  at  the  same  price, 
than  to  serve  as  brakeman  on  his  road. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  how  is  the  laborer  to  secure  capital,  since 
he  starts  with  nothincr.  Had  lie  got  his  deserts  he  would  have  had 
something,  for  the  first  day's  work  leaves  a  net  result  to  secure  cap- 
ital. The  first  day  the  laborer  becomes  capitalist.  How,  otherwise, 
could  capital  find  immunity  ? 

WORKING  OF  THE  TWO  METHODS. 

In  the  tirst  case,  the  laborer  is.  substantially,  working  for  him- 
self. As  he  gets  in  proportion  to  what  he  produces,  it  is  for  l.is  inter- 
est to  produce  all  he  can  :  in  the  second  case,  he  is  working  against 
time,  and  it  is  for  his  interest  to  produce  as  little  as  i)ossible.  In  one 
case,  the  workman  is  responsible  for  damages:  in  the  other,  the 
proprietor,  so  that  capital  is  never  secure.  In  the  first  case,  wages 
automatically  adjust  themselves,  according  to  what  one  contributes. 
There  are  no  strikes,  for  there  is  nothing  to  strike  against.  Be- 
tween the  hand  that  produces  and  the  thing  produced  there  can  be 
no  warfar*!.  Hut.  in  the  other  case,  there  is  a  chronic  civil  war  be- 
tween labor  and  capital.  In  one  case,  there  is  an  e(iuality  of  rela- 
tionship between  employer  and  employee  :  in  the  other  ca.se.  one  is 
•boss,'  the  other  H 'hand.'  In  one  case,  a  foreman  lays  out  the  work  : 
in  the  other  case,  an  overseer  spurs  on  the  men.      In  one  case,  there 


CO-OFERATION.  21 

are  no  disputes  to  arbitrate  :  in  the  other,  arbitration  fails  and  dyn- 
amite is  used  instead.  In  one  case,  they  work  many  hours  to  accom- 
plish httle  :  in  th^  other  case,  they  work  few  hours  and  accomplish 
much.  In  one  case,  they  welcome  inventions  :  in  the  other  case  they 
oppose  them.  As  consumption  increases  as  2,  4,  6,  8,  and  pi-oduc- 
tion  according  to  2,  4,  8,  16,  &c.,  there  wfll  soon  be  a  net  result  to 
labor.  Prices  under  co-operation,  would  then  eventually  fall  into 
the  category  of  natural  resources,  and  property  at  last  become  a 
spiritual  entity.  Artisans  would  then  become  artists,  and  labor 
exercise.  It  would  be  set  to  music  and  rhythm,  as  the  brooks  now 
flow,  as  the  birds  sing,  as  the  flowers  bloom,  or  as  the  planets  roll. 
Laborare  est  orare,  to  labor  is  to  pray.     For  when 

"The  traveller  and  the  road  seem  one,  with  the  errand  to  be  done, 
'that  were  man's  and  lover'^part,  that  were  Freedom's  whitest  chart." 

COROLLARIES. 

If  what  we  have  now  passed  over  is  correct,  three  deductions, 
somewhat  important,  may   be  derived: — 

(1)  Wayca. — When  usury  is  abolished  and  we  get  what  we  earn 
there  is  no  more  slavery  in  working  for  another  than  in  working  for 
one's  self.  Neither  is  the  possession  of  private  capital,  void  of  leg- 
islative increase,  at  all  inconsistent  with  either  liberty  or  equity. 
The  farmer  who  possesses  it  and  employs  himself,  may  be  a  greater 
slave  than  those  who  do  not  possess  it  and  who  work  for  wages. 
It  is  impossible  for  anyone  to  say  for  another  just  where  his  surplus 
possessions  begin  and  his  personal  needs  leave  ofi".  Whatever  is  net 
beyond  immediate  use  belongs  to  I  lie  producer  just  as  much  as 
what  has  been  consumed,  anil  to  divest  Iiini  of  it  would  be  rob- 
bery. As  a  proprietor  then,  he  has  a  right  to  hire  others,  and  they 
can  justly  work,  for  wages.  The  "wage  system"  then  must  forever 
remain.  And  because  of  the  law  of  individuality  of  functions  in  na- 
ture it  is  perfectly  compatible  with  co-operation.  The  recognition 
of  this  may  simplify,  and  hasten  the  possibility  of  organizmg  co-op- 
erative production . 

(2)  Capitalistic  Interest.— The  capitalist  may  now  inquire  how 
he  is  to  be  benelited  by  owning  property  upon  which  he  can  derive  no 
revenue  ?  This  is  answered  in  the  fact  that  in  nominally  losing  his 
ten  per  cent,  'dividend'  in  a  false  system,  he  saves  :is  a  producer 
and  a  member  of  society  vastly  more  on  his  labor,  in  conjunction 
■with  his  capital,  nature  and  co-operation.     'Industrial  partnerships' 


22  THE     SUN. 

are  an  inefficacious  but  sure  forenmnei"  of  this  result.  The  quicker 
this  change  is  made,  the  surer  will  be  the  chances  of  realizing  par 
upon  the  pi'esent  plant.  For  a  lesson  and  a  warning,  against  what 
might  prove  a  possible  and  unexpected  result,  reference  is  made 
to  the  present  and  former  condition  of  Southern  slaveholders. 
Their  i)lantations  are  unsaleable  at  ten  per  cent,  of  their  former 
valuation,  and  yet,  they  could  not  now  be  persuaded,  did  the  law 
allow  it,  to  invest  $50.  in  a  Fall  River  operative,— -so  much  cheaper 
is  'free'  than  slave  labor. 

(3)  Competition  imder  Co-ope7'ation.-' Again  it  vvill  be  noticed 
that  competition  under  co-operation  is  nut  ab(jlislied  as  it  is  inider 
communism  and  state  socialism.  But  it  is  animated  by  a  new  idea 
and  directed  into  new  channels.  Under  co-operation  the  problem 
is  solved  how  the  fullest  exercise  of  individual  genius  is  wholly 
compatible  with  the  public  good.  While  society  gains  in  efficiency 
and  ecoiu)ray,  individuals  are  preserved  from  lo-is.  (yompetition, 
as  guided  by  the  demand,  builds  up  instead  of  bi'eaks  down.  Under 
profit,  society  and  individuals  both  alike  pay  the  penalty,  now  all 
parties  are  benefited.  Under  {)rofit  the  greatest  trickster  and  the 
longest  purse  survive  ;  under  co-operation  the  most  usefnl  member 
of  society  survives. 

(4)  The  Tariff. — Having  now  a  free  cui-reticy,  all  p(M)ples  of  tin; 
globe  and  every  climate,  from  Alaska  to  Mexico,  c.mnot  we  com- 
pete with  England  ?  I  think  we  can.  and  with  New  England,  also. 
For  C()-oi)erat,ors  will  do  their  manufacturing  on  the  spot  where  the 
raw  material  is  raised.  Meanwhile,  by  pooling  onr  consumption, 
we  shall  be  able  to  share  in  the  bonus  ])aid  to  capital,  for  our  ']iro- 
tection.'  Thus,  is  it  seen,  that  co-opcia lion,  without  entciing  (lie: 
arena  of  politics  or  waiting  for  another  presidentipl^electlon,  out- 
flanks the  custom-house,  and  settl<!s  the  tarift"  ((uestion  in  the  inter- 
est, alike,  of  /)(>th  Fi-ctt  Trader  and  rroeclionist. 

THllKK  IN  ONE. 

We  now  have  consumption.  iiistril)ution  and  prcxhu'tion,  llic.vtore, 
the  bank,  the  farm  ami  factory.  These  three  are  one  :  they  consti- 
tute th(!  thn-c  sid(;s  of  tin;  triangle  to  the  (•onii)h!t(*  reorgani/ation 
of  business  and  industry.  VUc.  pool  is  designed  to  make  a  complete 
round  of  labor  exchanges.  The  store,  alone,  would  i>e  of  minor  i>o- 
portance,  not  n;acliing  the  hidden  sprir)gs  of  usury.  Then-  is  now 
such  coin])ei,i(,ion.  and  so  little  margin,  tliat  m  )st  of  tliern   fail.      It 


CO-OPERATION.  23 

is  probable  that  the  economic  administration  ot  our  store  would 
save  us  from  this  result.  But  when  one,  complete,  three-fold  ex- 
change has  been  made,  there  is  saved  all  profit,  waste,  antaoonism, 
strikes,  failures,  rent,  interest  and  middle  men.  The  store,  now,  as 
related  to  these,  is  of  prime  importance.  It  makes  a  market  for 
{)roduction,  gauges  the  amount,  and  guarantees  employment.  And 
this  furnishes  us  with  a  Held  for  the  inauguiation  of  exchange. 
While,  all  joined  together,  thej'  reinforce  and  aid  each  other. 

Now,  this  three-fold  organism  contains  the  application  of  every 
element  entering  into  the  organization  of  business.  When  once  it  is 
completely  formed,  in  however  small  a  wa}',  its  natural  superiority 
of  organization  must  necessarily  absorb  and  drive  out  the  old  sys- 
tem. It  cannot  resist  natural  law  any  more  than  the  weaker  can 
destroy  the  stronger.  And  through  its  outstretching  and  beneficent 
arms  in  new  applications,  all  laborers  may  be  relieved  and  set  free. 
Every  strike  that  now  occurs, we  are  in  a  position  to  utilize,  every 
failure  that  takes  place  we  can  buy  in  at  bankrupt  sale,  and  when 
the  panic  comes  we  can  sit  under  our  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  and 
say,  "Gentlemen,  you  can  have  your  money  ;  it  is  good  for  nothing  ; 
the  trap  that  you  were  setting  for  us,  has  sprung  back  upon  your- 
selves ;  you  can  now  stay  out  and  perish,  or  come  in  and  behave." 
Possessing  such  a  fulcrum  of  power,  we  shall  find  little  occasion  to 
'boycott.'  Instead  of  'teaj-ing  down'  the  old,  it  will  be  our  only 
care  to  get  out  of  its  w  ay,  lest  it  fall  down.  "Stay  as  long  as  you 
caw,"  Nature  cries,  "we  will  not  compel  you,  but  you  must." 

PRACTICAI.     REVIEW. 

So,  methinks,  I  see  the  humble  beginning  of  the  first  store.     It  is 
in  an  attic.     The  customers  are  only  ten.      Their  stock  in  trade  is 
perhaps  but  a  sack  of  coflee.  It  may  have  taken  thirty  days  for  this 
to  accumulate.     For,  on  the  first  of  the  month,  they  make  their  first 
division.  An  iunuble  beginning  ?      But  the  smaller  the  better,  since 
this  leaves  room  for  growth.      By  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect,  if 
there  are  no  wrong  or  missing  steps  to  retrace,  these  co-operators 
can  now  see  the  end  from  the  beginning.     Tiiis  end  is,  from  the  at- 
titude of  the  consumer,  to  break  all  profit-making  organizations. 
The  next  month,  having  tohl  it  to  their  friends,  they  are  joined 
by  ten  others,  and  they  make  a  division  in  two  weeks.     At  the  end 
of  the  second  month,   each  m«mber's  encouraging  report  of  how 
lauch  tney  had  saved  by  pooling  their  custom,  brought  their  num- 
bers to  forty,   with  cash  orders,  on  Saturday  night,  amounting  to 
$150.     Now,  they  had  heretofore  simply  bought  at  wholesale,  buy- 


24  THE     SUN. 

incr  but  one  grade  of  goods,  which  bore  the  largest  profit,  and  could 
be'^most  easily  divided.      One  of  their  number  did  the  purchasmg 
made  the  division,  and  rendered  a  statement,  free;  the  goods  came 
at  wholesale  rates.      But  now,  the  orders  are  so  increased,  and  a  e         |« 
so  varied,  that  a  room  and  a  store-keeper  are  necessary.     But  on  y  "^ 

a  room  for  tilling  these  orders,  storing  what  is  left    and  a  pla  e    o  | 

put  any  special  bargains,  or  to  keep  a  small  assortment.     Ami  the  1 

storekeeper  must  not  be  occupied  only  at  stated  ^^ur^^^f^ 
to  serve  this  custom.  Therefore,  a  room  in  the  store-lceepei  s  hou  e 
would  be  most  convenient.  Now  the  bare  cost  of  t-nsacting  th. 
business  is  the  store-keeper^s  compensation.  t  can  be  reckoned 
from  the  time  consumed  by  each,  or  rated  on  the  amoun  ot  good 
sold      The  terms  of  the  contract  and  the  character  of  the  oiganiz 

ation  having  been  ^e^^^f  ?,^^'^^^'f^;^^^^,^,,,  ,,,  ,ni  say,  are  75  in 
Now,  how  are  we  situated?     The  cu.tomeis,  we  wii       y, 

number     Their  trade  averages  $3.  each  per  week,  oi  $2^«-  ^^^o 

getTiei      Before,  they  got  their  goods  at  wholesale  rates,  which  was 

a  savin,  of  20  per  cent.     Now  the  extra  expense  of  room  and  stoie- 

keeper  costs  $5.  per  week,  or  2  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  sales. 

^"t^^^o^r!^^::^'^^  an  hour  or  two  each  day  to 
accommodate  tSscusLm.  He  is  independent,  furnisl.sh.eapit^^^ 
or  credit   buys  his  own  goods  according  to  his  judgment    to  sup- 

pyhscistoL^^^  ^^^  t"'^'""rat  and 

go'tting  some  of  their  trade.  They  denounce  him  -^  P^-^^  ^^^^^ 
I  bushlhacker.  The  'leading  dealer,'  who  has  .capital  attemi^ts 
to  cut  on  prices.  The  two  systems,  'capital  and  ^co^t  now  o^e 
in  contact,  and  one  or  the  other  must  go  undeT.  If  ^''^f^^^  H 
dinary  organization,  it  would  be  ourselves  Even  some  c^  om  co 
operators  say  "Now  we  have  got  a  good  thing,  wlij  -^  ^^^ 

.      ,        ■  •  •   f  <,f^,A-  ct..rf   whv  should  we  be  anxious  to  seu 

it  bv  forming  a  loint  stock  store,  wny  miuu 

iL  uy  iuimiiig«j  „„4.',"      Rut  if  we  do  not  go  on,  we 

goods  to  the  outside  world  at  cost  f  B"t  it  we  ao         g 

^hall  go  backward,  and  at  last  be  absorbed  ^Y  eai^tal.  Now  ^  hde 
our  customers,  in  patronizing  outside  ^^-;f^^l^^^^:^^ 
the  indir«ct  benefits  of  their  organization,  they  must  not  ^^^'^^^^J^ 
Here  is  where  comes  in  the  applicath^  of  the  ^--^-J"^^ 
the  store-keeper,  to  pay  for  the  use  of  the  room,  and  to  pieser^e 
the  coherency  of  the  pool.  While  capital  ts  sinking  its  monej  our 
expense  n  such  sales  is  nearly  zero.  When  it  has  sunk  all  it  can 
am>rd  our  customers  come  back,  bringing  with  them  those  of  the 
rahf.r  yfore      For.  we  sell  at  cost,  to  all. 

Mcanwl,ile,  a  purcha.mg  syndicate  ha,  been  form..!  between 
the  managers;,  several  loeal  »tore,.  that  they  may  buy  at  ba„k,u„t 


CO-OPERATIUN.  26 

Bales,  and  at  manufacturer's  rates.  They  select  an  indiTidual  to 
serve  them,  just  as  they  serve  the  local  custom.  Moreover  the  lo- 
cal store,  whicli  had  kept  a  mixed  stock  of  goods,  open  only  on  part 
of  the  time,  finds  its  custom  sufficiently  large  to  keep  open  all  the 
time,  and  to  move  into  a  department  building  of  its  own.  Here 
samples  may  be  seen  of  nearly  everything  that  monev  can  buy.  It 
has  a  social,  ethical,  and  unobtrusive  air  of  reciprocity  not  found  in 
common  stores.  The  emulation  seems  as  great  to  sell  things  low 
as  high,  and  any  fluctuation  or  flaw  is  as  readily  pointed  out  when 
against  you  as  in  your  favor.  Anyone  can  send  a  child,  or  order 
goods  by  mail  as  by  person.  The  number  of  the  regularly  enrolled 
custom  is  a  guide  to  the  management,  but  the  pool  is  now  trans- 
formed, so  far  as  consumption  is  concerned,  into  organized  society. 

B\it,  long  before  this,  production  and  the  mobilization  of  credit 
have  begun.  They  began  almost  simultaneously  with  the  store. 
The  farmer  first  added  his  supplies,  and  soon  many  articles  of  the 
store  which  had  been  brought  from  abroad,  are  now  manufactured 
nearer  home.  Of  coui'se  our  store-keeper  buys  goods  where  he  can 
get  them  the  cheapest.  And,  in  doing  so,  we  patronize  those  mills 
which  espouse  the  labor  cost  principle.  In  the  first  place,  as  in- 
terest with  us,  has  become  one  of  the  lost  arts,  we  pay  it  no  longer. 
As  we  pool  our  consumption,  at  cost,  we  are  to  lop  off"  42  per  cent. 
tarifl\  We  are  not  to  pay  any  exorbitant  profit  for  superintendence. 
For  who  can  superintend  better  than  a  skilled  workman  ?  Nor  are 
we  to  pay  for  the  present  waste  and  antagonism,  of  strikes  and  fail- 
ures, advertising,  wholesale  dealers,  commission  men  and  runners. 
We  have  a  market  for  our  goods,  and  there  can  be  no  possible  risk 
in  supplying  them.  If  producing  in  large  quantities  is  economical, 
so  is  home  production,  besides  conferring  independence.  And  just 
now  electricity  is  coming  to  our  aid  in  changing  the  world's  motor 
power. 

But  when  these  tolls  to  capital  have  been  eliminated,  the  farm- 
ers and  wage  workers  establish  the  price,  which  is  one  of  labor. 
And  since  the  only  standard  of  a  reciprocal  exchange  is  a  "day's 
work,"  we  again  come  to  the  point  where  the  labor  dollar  becomes 
the  labor  note.  The  mobilization  of  credit  we  found  required  no 
establishment,  but  little  organization,  and  was  the  easiest  part  of 
co-operation.  A  half  dozen  financial  reformers  among  the  pool 
first  agreed  that  they  would  relieve  each  other  in  an  emergency,  by 
loaning  their  spare  money  on  deposit.  They  drew  up  a  chattel 
mortgage,  each  to  himself,  and  capable  of  being  available,  at  any 
time,  by  endorsement.      They  next  agreed,  under  these,  to  issue  so 


26  THE     HUN. 

much  scrip.  One  of  tlie  men  was  a  blacksmith,  one  a  doctor,  one 
a  miller,  one  a  soap  maker,  the  other  two  were  farmers,  t'lntl  they 
liad  $300.  issvied  between  them.  As  these  parties  are  well  known, 
their  word  being  as  good  as  their  note,  the  xtore-keeper  agrees  to 
take  the  scrip  and  locks  up  the  securities  in  his  safe,  until  the  first 
of  the  montli,  when  a  statement  and  a  clearance  is  made.  Soon, 
others  start  a  warehouse  for  deposits,  and  their  receipts  are  trans- 
formed into  certified  checks,  indelibly  perforated  with  certain  defi- 
nite amounts.  They  issue  a  currency  on  real  estate,  also  bonds  for 
their  department  store,  for  illumination,  and  for  water.  These  are 
in  denominations  as  low  as  -fo.,  and  are  paid  for  in  work,  materials, 
or  money.  In  return,  they  are  redeemed  in  service,  meanwliile 
passing  as  currency. 

With  this  three-fold  organized  exchange,  we  not  only  are  able 
to  make  one  labor  exchange  free  from  the  tolls  to  monopoly  but  we 
have  a  stereotyped  organism  which  will  forever  establish  all  exchan- 
ges on  a  labor  basis.  Then  will  the  pool  and  its  machinery  become 
mero-ed  in  society,  where  riches  are  alone  the  reward  of  merit,  and 
poverty  only  the  consequence  of  indolence.  Then  there  will  be  an 
ethical  yard-  stick  with  which  to  measure  ])rices,  and  the  variations 
of  supply  and  demand  so  vvell  regulated,  that  their  influence  will 
V)e  almo.st  imperceptible  in  modifying  the  first  cost. 

We  therefore,  as  consumers,  call  a  halt  on  all  the  tolls  to  capital 
of  whatever  description.  We  aflirm  the  utmost  freedom  for  the 
exercise  of  equity,  knowing  that  it  has  the  power  to  banish  all  dead- 
headism.  We  constitute  a  power  before  whose  gaze  there  is  neith- 
er sufferings  nor  martyrdom,  but  a  veritable  bonanza.  Nature,  in- 
vention, association,  all  pour  their  treasure  into  the  lap  of  labor. 
Has  any  one  any  doubt  that  the  only  way  to  prevent  being  defrauded 
is  to  stop  dividing  ?  The  only  way  then  to  do  this  is  to  form  a  chan- 
nel where  an  integral  exchange  can  take  place.  Is  it  possible  to 
con.;eive  how  labor  can  be  otherwise  emancipated  ?  It  is  not  a  la- 
bor or  class  movement,  l)ut  a  societary  one.  It  takes  in  all  classes 
equally  but  the  most  obtuse,  and  these  will  be  finally  compelled  to 
come  in.  It  is  limited  to  no  j)articular  country  in  its  application  ; 
It  is  capable  of  immediate  introduction,  and  of  conferring  immedi- 
ate ben  fits. 

PROPA(iANDA. 


So  our  (trganization  is  ripe,  oven  though  education  has  not  begun. 
We  do  not  exp(!ct  the  tin  pail  brigade,  or  the  farmer,  weary  with 


CO-OrERATIOX.  T, 

following  tlic  plow,  to  sit  down  and  .sliidy  pulitical  economy,  or  tiic 
science  of  goveinment.  Few  read,  fewer  think,  less  reasi>n,  less 
still  reason  correctly,  and  hardly  any  can  apply  their  thought  to 
life.  Yet  ail  can  see,  and  feel,  have  common  sense,  self  interest, 
and  know  what  benelits  their  conthtioii.  And  tbe  test  of  our  gospel 
is  not  that  it  brings  a  serpent,  or  a  sermon,  or  a  stone,  but  Inead, 
and  money,  and  fishes.  All  can  partake  of  the  results,  when  they 
will  Ijc  frieniiiy  to  the  principles.  We  have  no  fees,  no  formulas 
no  pledges,  not  even  a  name.  What  have  we  to  defend  ?  We 
pursue  the  even  tenor  of  our  course.  Whom  need  we  ottend  H  The 
trader  can  be  taken  in.  Cannot  a  club  of  custom  be  obtained  as 
easily  as  a  political  club  ?  Do  not  people  want  to  get  out  of  debt  P 
Are  they  not  travelling  the  .streets  for  employment  P  Do  t!..ey  not 
want  a  luuie  ^  \^  not  capital  seeking  a  safe  investment  ?  Do  not 
all  desire  a  competence,  in  old  age  ?  Is  not  the  whole  industiial 
world  groaning  and  in  travail  to  be  relieved  ?  Then,  let  them  come 
to  us,  whose  yoke  is  easy  and  whose  burden  is  light.  The  marriage 
feast  is  spread.  Nature's  banquet  stands  waiting, — Come  ye  in  out 
of  the  by-ways  and  hedges  O !  ye  Long-Defrauded,  and  partake  of 
what  is  yours.  But,  for  the  loafer,  the  nonproducer,  there  is  no 
place  left  for  him.  no  alchemy  in  nature's  laboratory  luit  can  .-<u.s- 
tain  his  life. 

PROSPECTUS. 

Hut  what  shall  we  say  of  the  inthnMu-e  tills  changeil  method  of 
production,  and  the  molnlization  of  credit  must  have  on  tliejiresenl 
land  tenure,  in  distributive  centres,  and  the  tariff  on  railroad  traffic  '^ 
Much  we  may  safely  say,  tor  our  organization  is  rinally  national, 
and  carries  away  the  trade  monopolies.  Even  tho.se,  'protected,' 
are  looking  al)out  for  a  place  to  unload  their  goods.  But  we  are 
not  left  to  any  indirect  action  of  business  to  cope  with  these  power- 
ful monopolies.  The  ellicacy  of  the  pool  is  not  liiuited  to  one  kind 
of  application.  It  can  be  applied  to  the  r.iilroads  and  landlords  as 
well, — yes  to  the  Stock  P^xcliange  and  the  Boards  of  Trade.  The 
whole  of  that  old  legal  word,  "propertA ,""  is  liable  to  get  a  terrible 
shaking.  If  there  is  any  virtue  in  the  future  organization  of  labor, 
it  can  show  the  landlord's  titles  as  trees  walking,  and  send  'securi- 
ties,' in  Wall  street,  higher  than  they  were  ever  tossed  by  bulls  and 
bears.  When  we  show  our  .strength  we  shall  begin  to  be  respected. 
The  priest  will  then  make  favorable  mention  in  his  prayers,  and 
the  judge  reserve  a  plact;  for  us  rn  his  constructions.  Even  Mad- 
ame Grundy,  herself,  will  ilesire  to  make  our  acquaintance.  And 
lastly,  the  politicians,  scenting  our  power,   leeringly  hover  arouiul 


28 


THE     SUN. 


to  catch  the  breeze.      But,    poor  old  government,   what  can   she 
do   now   that  Babylon  is  falling  ?      Divorced  from    her   banking 
laws,  her  tariff  tinkering,  her  chartered  privileges,  from  all  class 
legislation  and  meddling  with  private  pursuits,  what  is  there  left 
for  her  to  do  ?     To  appoint  the  Post-masters  ?     Every  improvement 
in  the  Post-office  has  come  through  the  instigation  or  competition  of 
private   enterprise.      The    surveying  of  the  i?«6Ztc  lands  ?      That 
has  only  been  an  obstacle  to  natural  development.     A  Bureau  to 
educate  the  Freedraen  ?     That  is  a  farce,  without  land  or  credit. 
Having  these,  they  are  amply  able  to  educate  themselves.     A  police 
force  ?     But  local  jurisdiction  is  only  competent  for  this.     A  stand- 
ing army  ">     What  use  will  the  workingmen  and  women  have  for  a 
standino-  army,  when  the  usurers  are  dead  ?     Then  is  there  nothing 
left  former  to  do.     Like  the  fifth  wheel  to  a  coach,  or  a  last  year's 
almanac,  she  is  inoperative  and  obsolete.      What,  arbitrary  force 
exist,  when  there  is  no  more  fraud  ?     It  is  impossible.      While  one 
v.'stige  of  it  remains,  fraud  has  not  entirely  ceased.      One  is  the 
cause,  the   other  the  effect.       In  life,  they  were  happily  united. 
in  death,  they  cannot  go  undivided.      Yes,  authority  with  profit 
must  die.       Then  pass  away,  hoary  old  monster,  and  thief,  and 
tyrant  of  time  !     No  more  voting,-for  you  tu  make   'good'  laws 
over  us,  or  to  unmake  bad  ones,  but  a  recognition  of  those  that 
require  no  'making.'     No  more  taxing,-to  compel  one  to  buy  what 
he  does  not  want,  or  could  get  cheaper  nearer  home.     In  a  word. 
no  more  war!     But,  instead.  Peace  arches  the  heavens,  supported 
bv  two  pillars,-Libertv  and  Equity.     Cost,  the  only  enduring  basis 
of  profit,  and  the  Equal  Sovereignty  of  All,  the  only  tranquil  source 
of  a.ithority.     The  all  mighty  Dollar  is  no  longer  supreme.      A  new 
«(.cial  ideal  has  taken  its  place.      Humanity  is  exalted,  and  Labor 

is  King.  ,  ,  . 

But  we  care  to  indulge  in  no  Utopian  fiights.  All  that  we  claim 
for  society  is  contained  in  a  few,  simple,  definite,  and  self  evident 
things.  If  they  are  not  as  yet  enjoyed  by  man,  they  already  belong 
to  th(!  brute  creation.     They  are  these:— 

First— A  place  to  work.  A  guarantee  of  work.  A  kind 
that  is  adapted  to  tlie  worker. 

Second,- (Jomprnsnti07i.  All  one  earns.  The  product  of  the 
oroducer,  or  its  hibor  equivalent. 

Third,- Capital  Secured.      The    creature    and   the   creator   at 

peace. 

Fourth,— Poverty  and  the  Crimes  against  property,  no  longer 

a  necessity. 

j,''ij-lfi,—A  Home  and  a  Competence  for  All. 


THE  FINANCIAL  PROBLEM: 


ITS  RELATION  TO 


H    H 
J 


AND  PROSPERITY, 


fhe  Wnciplis  of  Moinetaiy  Scigiet, 


er 


)EMONSTRATING  THE 


i0^ 


^ABOLITION  OF  INTEREST 


ro  in:  ttnavoidarle. 


By  Ai.'kreh  I'..  AN'ksti 
Honorary    member  jif   the    Socicdad    La^^C faxes     Prodiictoras, 

m;1'  \l>  \l.\  lAkA,     MKXlt'O. 


'* 


DALLAS,    TEXAS. 

PUBI.ISHKD  KY    THE  AUTHOR. 
1886. 


i 


Entered   according  to   Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year 
Kv  ALFRED   15.  WESTRUP, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  ^^'ashinQ;ton. 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITIOIT 

Many  years  ago  while  lecturing  and  canvassing  in  the  interests 
of  Labor  Reform,  and  regarding  financial  reform  as  indispensably  the 
initiative  step  towards  any  real  progress  in  that  direction,  the  author 
advocated  the  adoption  of  Colonel  Wm.  B.  Greene's  plan  for  Mutual 
Banking,  in  order  to  abolish  interest;  and  the  utilization  of  other 
products  of  labor  besides  gold  and  silver  as  a  basis  for  the  issue  of 
paper  money,  in  order  to  obtain  a  surplus  of  capital,  instead  of  a  sur- 
plus of  labor,  as  we  have  at  present.  But  conflicting  financujkreeds 
revealed  the  necessity  for  scientific  formula  upon  which  ts^^se  the 
true  or  correct  system,  and  as  diligent  search  for  it  failed  to  discover 
any  successful  effort,  while  despairing  of  accomplishing  so  important 
a  task,  the  writer  nevertheless  made  the  attempt.  How  well  he  has 
succeeded  i^  tor  Mi^^^^  *°  judge.  In  1879  the  Murray  Hill  Publishing 
Company,  issued  a  i>amphlet  entitled,  "The  Abolition  of  Interest,  a 
SiiTiple  Prbblem,"  embodying  in  a  condensed  form  what  progress  had 
been  made  up  to  tlMt  time.  The  present  pamphlet  is  a  second 
edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  but  the  fundamental  principles  are  the 
same.  It  is  sincerely  hoped  that  it  may,  at  least,  contribute  in  some 
measure  to  the  solution  of  the  great  ([uestions  that  are  herein  dis- 
cussed, and  thus  solve  the  problem  of  c(^])eration,  which  must 
ultimately  take  the  place  of  all  government.* 

w  Thk  Author. 


*  Government   means  coercion,      In  co-operation  there  is  no    compulsion — what 
•govcrnme^BlfcB^is,  is  selk  govkknmknt. 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION. 


To  state,  that  interest  for  money  loaned  on  good  security  is  irra- 
tional, and  that  its  abolition  is  not  dependent  upon  philanthropic  mo- 
tive, but  upon  business  principle,  and  therefore  unavoidable,  is  to 
either  startle  the  "civilized"  world  or  else  to  evoke  ridicule.  To  state 
that  S|ay2g^  l)anks  are  economic  absurdities,  and  that  history  gives  no 
greate^lividence  of  man's  folly  than  in  their  establishment,  is  to  be- 
come not  only  the  laughing-stock  of  superficial  thinkers,  but  to  be  re- 
garded as  non  compos  mentis  by  "learned"  writers  on  political 
economy.  Of  course  we  do  not  court,  neither  do  we  fear  these 
results.  They  do  not  constitute  arguments.  The^^e  the  result  of  a 
firm  belief  in  accepted  views  of  the  nature  and  omceo^money,  and 
of  the  laws  of  value.  It  remains  to  be  seen  how  long  error  upon  this 
subject  will  remain  unassailed,  while  mankind  itf  making  rapid  prog- 
ress in  other  directions. 

To  those  who  will  further  extend  to  us  the  courtesy  of  their  atten- 
tion, we  would  say  :  The  proof  that  interest  u])on  money  loaned  on 
good  security  is  irratioi^l,  is  the  fact  that  the  security  is  capital,  and 
that  what  the  l)orrower  obtains  is  merely  something  w  hi(  li  enables  him 
to  avail  himself  of  the  use  of  his  ca])ital,  WTOOut  (  utling  it  up  into 
small  pieces,  as  is  done  with  the  capital  consisting  of  ihc  metals,  used 
as  money,  but  which  in  his  case  is  impossible.  The  b^^jjjLKNDS  his 
CRKDii,  and  the  borrower  I'Lkdgks  mis  (ai'Iial  ;  tjIJ^^^hr 

FAR    MORK  SECURK    THAN     I'HK  HOLDER   OF    THE    HANK^^^^»<:R. 

banker  i  akf.s  i-av  for  the  use  of  capital,  althcnigh   ne  furnishes 
none;  for  the  capital  is  fuknismed  r.\-  iiii.  I!Okr()wkk.     'I'he  banker. 


therefore  renders  no  more  service  to  the  borrower  than  he  would  if, 
both  using  in  every  way  the  same  kind  of  spectacles,  the  Ijorrower 
should  hand  his  to  the  banker,  while  he  borrowed  the  banker's  for  his 
own  use. 

But  it  is  not  our  intention  to  enlarge  here  upon  the  subject  of  our 
essay,  which  is  fully  treated  there.  What  we  propose  is  not  new ;  it 
has  long  been  known  to  a  few,  who,  when  we  hear  the  unsound  doc- 
trines of  those  who  want  an  exclusive  government  money,  and  the 
fallacies  of  "specie  basis,"  wonder  how  long  we  shall  have  to  wait  be- 
fore WE  get  a  hearing.  We  can  only  say  in  conclusion,  that  the  in- 
compatibility of  present  money  systems,  with  the  requirements  of 
modern  progress,  is  a  guarantee  of  their  speedy  overtTirow,  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Money  System  in  which  interest  will  ha|^o  part. 

The  Author. 


'»i 


U 


—  8  — 
RESOLUTIONS. 

Sonic  resolutions  offered  at  the  Eighteenth  Annual  C'onvention 
of  the  New  England  Labor  Reform  League,  in  Chapel  Hall,  820 
Washington  S^  Boston,  Sunday,  Jan.  31,  1886. 

1.  >?^BWf,  That,  since  personal  liberty  and  the  right  of  associa- 
tion are  inseparable  from  intelligent,  fruitful  existence,  the  claim  of 
"rulers"  to  dictate  what  we  may  or  may  not  do  is  monstrous  usurpa- 
tion tolerated  only  because  superstitious  irrationalism  pretending  to 
be  law  and  order  is  not  yet  repudiated  by  growing  sense  of  natural 
right  and  duty  destined  to  abolish  all  extant  governments. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  aims  of  Trades  Unions  to  exterminate,  as 
"rats'"  and  "scabs"  those  refusing  to  join  their  repressive  monopolies, 
is  a  sa^ga  relic  of  mediaeval  barbarism  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  liberty, 
to  comWwi  sense  of  right  and  duty  of  which  labor  is  the  creative  ex- 
ponent ;  that  the  organization  of  working  people,  to  be  permanently 
useful,  must  assert  not  invade,  the  rights  of  the  weak  and  defenseless, 
resenting  injury  to  the  least,  as  crime  against  all. 

3.  Resolved^  'I'hat  since  the  Knights  of  Labor  ado])t  sex,  etjuality 
and  the  mutual  interest  of  all  workers  to  unite  for-^mmon  drfense — 
two  leading  doctrines  of  this  League,  we  invite  them  to  !■  it  their 
despotic  policies  relative  to  land,  money  and  exchange;  ^over- 
board treacherous  timber  which  tends  to  make  their  great  order  a  pi- 
rate ship  rather  than  an  ark  of  safety  for  the  toiling  millions;  that  like 
the  Labor  Congress,  the  (Grangers,  the  Sovereigns  of  Industry  and 
many  other  extinct  organizations,  life  in  Knights  of  Labor 'will  be 
abortively  short,  unless  they  speedily  turn  from  tyrannous  ways  and 
head  towards  liberty. 

4.  Resolved,  'I'hat,  the  fight  of  silverists^ith  goldists  is  a  class- 
war  between  two  sets  of  thieves  for  mono])olizing  control  of  jnetals 
"precious"  in  usurped  power  to  defraud  service ;  that  neither  national 
bankists,  greenbackites,  goldists,  silverists,  or  any  othefj^^^  of  legal- 
ized robbers  should  furnish  compulsive  currency;  (^^^^Bmo 
every  species  of  property  being  available  banking  basiHBerei)y  in3T 
viduals  and  associations  can  al)olish  interest  by  providing  their  own 
money  at  their  own  \'\^V  nnd  (  ost. 


INTRODUCTION, 


% 


We  are  sometimes  "told  that  we  cannot  change  human  nature. 
We  are  not  trying  to  change  human  nature.  It  is  their  mistake,  not 
ours,  in  attributing  the  evils  of  society  to  manifestations  of  human 
nature,  and  therefore  unavoidable.  The  evils  we  complain  of  are  the 
consequences  of  invaded  rights.  Protect  those  rights  from  invasion. 
and  the  evils  will  disappear. 

A  mother's  love  for  her  child,  or  the  individual's  desugito  sur- 
round himself  with  the  comforts  of  life,  and  his  unremitting  efforts  to 
accomi)lish  it,  are  manifestations  of  human  nature.  But  it  is  also 
human  nature  to  protest  against,  and  forcibly  prevent  robbery.  If 
you  live  in  a  small  country  village  and  your  house  is  invaded  and 
your  pro])erty  carried  away  without  your  consent,  you  resist  the  in- 
vader (unless  ii  i^  government  levying  a  tax  on  you) :  if  superior 
force  is  ijased  you  (all  for  help  and  citizens  come  and  rescue  your 
property.  If  still  threatened  you  become  more  vigilant,  put  better 
locks  on  your  doors,  and  fastening  on  your  windows ;  if  this  does  not 
avail,  you  employ  watchmen  or  detectives.  If  others  rights  are  in- 
vaded in  like  manner,  you  hold  a  meeting  to  adopt  measures  for 
self-protection  ;  each  one  volunteering  his  share  of  the  labor,  or  cost 
of  such  i)rotection.     This  is  co-operation  or  ski.k-(;ovkrnmkni'. 

The  banking  institutions  of  large  cities,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
transaction  of  business  that  they  may  have  with  each  other  during  the 
day,  establish  an  oftice  at  a  central  point  called  a  Clearing  House, 
where  a  representative  of  each  bank  meet  at  a  fixed  hour  of  the  day. 
This  obviates  an  immense  amount  of  labor  and  saves  a  great  deal  ot 
time.     Tl-uBhi^utualism  or  co-operation. 

But  v^^^ftvernment  interferes  with  production  or  exchange  of 
roducts  u^^^\NV  PRKTKX  r,  notwithstanding  the  open  protest  of  many 
citizens,  and  levies  taxes  on  each  one,  and  compels  some  to  bear  arms 
against  their  wish,  to  carry  out  and  enforce  such  interference :  this  is 


^^rodi 


lO 


not  co-operation,  it  is  coercion,  it  is  not  self-government,  it  is  (;ov- 
ERNMENi  I'.v  FORCE,  it  is  tyranny,  it  is  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the 
individual. 

Why  we  demand  that  all  restrictions,  which  interfere  with  free 
banking  and  free  exchange  of  service  or  products  shall  be  removed, 
is  because  the  prime  factor  m  human  happiness  is  existence,  and  the 
prime  factor  in  existence  is  to  supply  your  own  wants.  If  in  your 
effort  to  do  this,  you  are  restricted,  you  cannot  attain  happiness. 
Hence,  the  removal  of  all  restrictions  on  production,  or  the  free  ex- 
change of  service  or  products,  is  indispensable  to  human  happiness, 
whether  that  restriction  be  in  the  form  of  a  tax  on  the  products,  in  the 
methods  of  furnishing  the  medium  of  exchange  or  in  the  amount  fur- 
nished. To  deny  this  is  to  deny  the  right  to  associate  or  co-operate 
for  mutual  good  I 

N^ature  thinkers  on  these  subjects  know  that  to  co-operate  or  as- 
sociate to  lessen  the  burdens  of  life,  we  must  have  freedom  to  act. 
Majority  governments  are  no  more  infallible  than  autocratic  govern- 
ments. Are  not  majorities  aliuays  7c>rong  first,  he/ore  they  ore  right  f 
Does  the  individual  suffer  any  less  because  wronged  by  a  majority  than 
he  would  if  wronged  by  any  other  usurper  <  What  excuse  will  this 
majority  usurper  have  for  assuming  guardinship  ovg^kJM^ther  when, 
his  conscience  (demands  a  reason  ?  It  is  patient,  unceasing  experiment 
alone  that  can  teach  us  better  ways.  Hence,  the  i^ril  that  threatens 
our  country  inheres  in  the  folly  of  the  idea,  that  twenty-six  men,  most 
of  whom  have  studied  nothing  but  their  own  selfish  ends,  have  a  right 
to  govern — make  laws  for — seventy-four  men  and  women  out  of  every 
hundred  (but  even  this  projjosition  only  holds  good  in  cases  where 
laws  are  submitted  to  popular  vote  for  approval.  In  most  cases  it  is 
a  few  individuals  making  laws  governing  the  whole  population  of  a 
State,  or  the  entire  nation),  many  of  whom  are  earnestly  and  con- 
sistently devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  physical  and  moral  con- 
ditions of  the  whole  race.  Not  presuming,  however,  to  be  infallible, 
and  loving  liberty  more  than  wc  do  to  govern,  prefer  even  to  suffer 
wrong  rather  than  make  laws  for  others  lest  we  should  i  '^  i  wrong. 
Not  willing  then  to  dictate  to  others,  but  simply  comri^'uir  onriTRn 
experience    w.-  nwait  the  triumjih  of  reason. 


THE  RELATION  OF  FINANCE  TO  LABOR  REFORM 
AND  PERPETUAL  PROSPERITY. 


It  is  only  as  we  emerge  from  the  mist  of  superstition,  cast  aside 
the  veil  of  prejudice,  and  enter  the  broad  field  of  human,  action,  that 
we  realize  the  effort  it  takes  to  initiate  and  forward  the  great  work  of 
reform  ;  that  we  see  bright  lights  here  and  there  shining  and  exposing 
to  view  dark  and  forbidden  paths  ;  and  that  the  mind  is  overAvhelmed 
in  its  effort  to  keep  pace  with  progress  and  passing  events.  Ideas 
are  modified  or  changed  ;  governments  are  reconstructed  or  reformed 
institutions  are  remodeled ;  land-marks  are  shifted ;  islands,  mountains 
and-  boundaries  disappear.     All  is  change  ! 

The  ^jgyillllH  diversities  of  human  effort;  industrial  and  agricul- 
tural processes  and  methods,  those  of  living ;  systems  of  transpor- 
tation and  trawl,  education  and  the  treatment  of  the  sick;  all  are 
subject  to  the  modifications  which  our  better  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience dictate.  And  the  time  has  come  when  reform  must  enter 
that  field  where  contending  forces  threaten  the  downfall  of  one 
oppressive  i)Ower  by  the  establishment  of  another. 

In  canvassing  this  vastly  important  subject,  its  history,  past  and 
present  experience,  the  logic  of  events,  the  pressing  needs  of  civiliza- 
tion and  the  demands  of  justice,  we  find  no  explanation  to  existing 
usage,  save  chroiiic  error;  and  the  various  remedies  proposed  but 
reveal  the  chaotic  condition  in  whicli  the  (juestion  presents  itself  to 
the  public  mind. 

Tn  th||fc|^nce  of  a  correct  solution  there  can  be  no  successful 
effort  to  r(^^Pn  but  when  that  solution  comes,  effort  will  be  suc- 
(  csslul  and  reform  will  be  speedy  and  effectual. 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  honesty  of  purpose  on  the 
part  of  a  sufficient  number  to  defend  what  is  rieht  and  just,  and  when 


I  2 


an  appeal  is  made  that  can  establish  itself  on  these  grounds,  the  front 
lines  will  be  covered  and  the  best  talent  will  be  available. 

The  great  need  of  to-day  is  reform,  not  "social"  or  "political" 
but  a  reform  that  shall  change  the  whole  structure  of  human  society — 
a  reform  tlj^^t  shall  abohsh  poverty,  and  initiate  an  era  of  prosperity, 
in  which  morality  can  be  possible,  for  no  society  can  be  moral  while 
a  majority  of  its  members  are  suffering  all  the  discomforts  and  most 
of  the  horrors  of  i)Overty. 

In  the  light  of  the  knowledge  we  possess  of  sanitary  measures, 
and  hygienic  Hving,  what  becomes  of  our  boasted  civilization  ?  Why 
preach  and  print  so  much  about  the  rules  of  health,  the  necessity  of 
ventilation,  drainage  and  cleanliness,  while  the  great  majority  of  man- 
kind are  doomed  in  their  poverty  to  be  filthy,  breathe  disease  in  the 
polluted  air  of  cesspools,  and  suffocate  in  houses  they  pay  rent  for, 
but  cannot  reform.  Is  it  filth,  ignorance  and  injustice  that  we  should 
seek  to  abolish  ?  Then  let  us  abolish  poverty  !  You  may  labor  in 
"civil  service  reform"  while  the  universe  lasts,  but  you  will  not  thereby 
abolish  poverty,  or  put  an  end  to  these  financial  crises,  which  periodi- 
cally visit  our  commerce  and  our  industries,  and  whose  presence  are 
more  disgraceful  than  their  effects  are  ruinous.  These,  as  well  as 
poverty,  have  a  special  cause,  which  must  be  sought  out  and  removed. 
To  confess  our  inability  to  do  this,  is  unworthy  of- a  progressive  age. 
To  leave  to  posterity  an  inheritance  so  shameful,  ami  seek  refuge  from 
responsibility  behind  a  supposed  ignorance  of  its  cause,  is  unworthy 
of  those  who  labor  under  the  banner  of  reform,  inconsistent  with  the 
-pirit  of  their  teachings,  and  contrary  to  the  objects  they  wish  to 
accomjjlish. 

To  say  that  most  men  and  women  must  forever  toil  in  a  condition, 
less  favorable  than  that  of  the  common  brute,  that  nature,  with  the 
magnitude  of  her  inexhaustible  sui)|)ly,  her  countless  and  untold 
resources,  and  the  jjrodigality  of  her  productions  has  left  man,  the 
highest  and  grandest  of  all  her  achievements,  to  be  the  victim  of  his 
own  necessities  I  That  she  has  imposed  on  him  the  '  '  M'rions  under 
which  he  shall  live,  and  has  failed  to  provide  the  m.  ,.^  of  fuifiUing 
those  conditions  I  That  she  has  said  to  am,,  eat,  or  )S  shall  surelj"* 
die;  yet  not  have  provided  for  all!  That  she  inflicts  the  penalty  of 
death   for   violating  her  health   laws,  yet  rendered  compliance  with 


—  13  — 

those  laws  impossible  !  Shall  the  doctrine  of  Malthus  still  soothe  the 
c^Dnscience  and  stifle  the  voice  of  manhood  ? 

Yet  it  is  not  by  appeals  to  humanity,  nor  by  legal  enactments 
that  we  expect  to  succeed.  It  is  not  upon  the  valor  or  fury  of  an 
armed  mob — legal  or  otherwise — that  we  must  stake  the  issue ;  so 
great  a  reform  cannot  rest  upon  so  fickle  a  base,  but  upon  the  fact 
that  all  reforms  spring  from  an  intelligent  sense  of  wrong,  or  greater 
economy  in  proposed  methods. 

If  we  would  reform  labor,  we  must  reform  capital.  We  must 
institute  a  most  searching  investigation  into  the  subject  of  finance — 
that  main  branch  of  economic  science  which  has  ever  been  used  by 
crafty  and  greedy  men  to  acquire  wealth  and  power  at  the  expense  of 
useful  people,  and  we  must  popularize  correct  notions  in  order  that  we 
mav  eliminate  the  vicious  features  that  these  men  make  use  of,  and 
by  which  they  accomplish  their  ends. 

That  there  is  a  profound  sense  of  WTong  in  the  present  banking 
system,  will  hardly  be  denied.  That  there  is  greater  economy  and 
justice  in  the  one  we  propose,  it  is  my  purpose  to  demonstrate. 

I  hold  it  to  be  the  duty  of  those  who  have  arrived  at  any  definite 
conclusions  on  matters  of  pubhc  economy,  to  make' known  the  result 
of  their  research,  and  it  is  with  a  view  of  fulfilling  this  duty  that  this 
work  is  published. 

It  is  now  more  than  twelve  years  since  my  attention  w^as  first 
called  to  this  subject.  During  the  period  that  has  intervened,  I  have 
devoted  much  time  to  its  study,  and  I  hope,  succeeded  in  formulating 
the  correct  principles  of  monetary  science,  and  thus  refute  prevailing 
erroneous  and  unsound  doctrines  maintained  by  money-lenders  and 
their  associates  who  profit  by  existing  institutions  and  systems.  This 
will  aid  us  to  understand  the  true  nature  of  exchange,  or,  in  other 
words,  what  constitutes  equity  in  the  exchange  of  service  or  products ; 
for  in  this  inheres  the  whole  secret  of  the  labor  problem,  that,  since 
you  cannot  take  something  from  nothing,  and,  since  all  things  are 
produced  by  lal)or,  *  what  capital  gains,  labor  loses.  By  what 
methods  and  how  to  ren\edy  it,  is  the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  explain. 

I  shaj^omnience  by  cailing  your  attention  to  a  preliminary  ar- 
gument i^H^erence  to  the  various  banking  systems.  First,  let  us 
inquire  int(^ne  specie  basis  system 


*  See  definition  of  wealtli. 


—  14  — 

In  order  that  we  may  be  understood,  we  wish  it  to  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  whenever  we  speak  of  interest,  it  is  ahvays  in  connection 
with  money  borrowed  on  good  security ;  a  business  transaction  in 
which  no  risk  is  supposed  to  be  incurred,  and  not  in  connection  with 
transactions  that  partake  more  or  less  of  the  nature  of  a  favor,  and  in 
which  more  or  less  risk  is  incurred.  The  one  we  will  call  real  credit ', 
the  other,  peisonal  credit.  With  the  latter  we  have  nothing  at  all 
to  do. 

We  will  now  suppose  two  individuals  equally  wealthy  ;  the  wealth 
of  one  to  consist  of  the  metals,  gold  and  silver,  and  that  of  the  other, 
of  buildings  or  any  other  product  of  labor. 

What,  we  ask,  are  the  facilities  afforded  by  this  financial  system 
for  the  obtaining  of  real  credit  on  the  part  of  these  two  individuals  ? 
If  they  possess  an  equal  amount  of  wealth  are  they  not  equally 
wealthy  ?  Do  they  \\9\.  stand  on  an  equal  financial  footing,  and  are  they 
not  ecjually  entitled  to  real  credit? 

The  fair,  honest  and  impartial  answer  to  this  question  together 
with  the  abolition  of  property  in,  and  recognition  of  the  ecpial  right  of 
all  to  natural  wealth,  is  the  simple,  effective  and  only  settlement 
possible  to  the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital. 

In  the  specie  basis  system  of  banking,  as  in  others,  this  right  to  real 
credit  is  utterly  ignored  ;  first,  by  government  coinage  and  "fixjng"  the 
\  alue  of  gold  or  silver,  or  both,  or  in  other  words  making  the  ( i  lin  legal 
tender;  second,  by  government  giving  the  owners  of  this  coin  the 
EXCLUSIVE  PRIVILEGE  *  to  issue  paper  money,  not  only  to  the  extent  of 
this  "fixed"  value  of  their  coin,  but  to  the  extent  of  three  times  as 
much.  What  right,  we  ask,  has  government  to  "fix"  the  value  of  any 
]jroduct  of  labor,  or  make  it  legal  tender,  authorize  the  issue  of  paper 
money  to  the  extent  of  three  times  the  amount  of  this  legal  tender 
coin,  and  jjrohibit  the  issue  of  paper  money  by  the  owners  of  any  other 
products.  If  government  has  the  right  to  "fix"  the  value  of  one 
product,  then  it  has  the  right  to  "fix"  the  value  of  all  products,  and 
what  is  this  but  communism,  or  state  socialism? 

\o.  it  is  a  fundamental  error  in  political  economy  to  admit  the 
right  of  government  to  "fix"  the  value  of  any  j^roduct,  inasmuch  as  it 
exempts  it  from  the  effects  of  sup])ly  and  demand  to  )i^^H  all  other 


inasmi 


•  .^  jirivilege  to  one  is  the  same  thingas  the;  supjiression  of  the  naturnl  rights  of  the 
st,  nncl  KC'vernnient  is  a  USUKI'I'K  when  it  attcMiij^ts  it. 


—  15  — 

products  are    subject,  and  is  therefore  diprivilege  which  infringes  on 
the  rights  of  owners  of  all  other  products. 

But  it  is  a  far  graver  error  for  a  government  to  suppose  it  has 
the  right  to  restrict  the  issue  of  paper  money,  for  this  is  attacking  the 
rights  of  owners  of  property  to  a  much  greater  extent.  If  one  can 
not  use  property  to  the  best  advantage,  he  is  restricted  in  its  use.  One 
of  the  uses  of  property  is  to  obtain  real  credit,  as  is  done  by  the 
owner  of  coin  when  they  issue  paper  money  to  the  extent  of  three, 
and  even  ten  times  the  amount  of  their  coin,  only,  that  in  this  case 
they  get  from  three  to  ten  times  the  amount  of  credit  they  are  entitled 
to.  If  owners  of  other  products  may  not  issue  paper  money  to  obtain 
real  credit,  they  must  borrow  from  those  who  do  issue.  Now,  inas- 
much as  this  involves  the  payment  of  interest  largely  in  excess  of  what 
it  costs  to  print  and  issue  paper  money,  he  pays  for  something  he 
does  not  get ;  and  as  the  public,  who  take  all  the  risk,  and  should 
therefore  be  furnished  ample  security,  derive  none  from  banks  which 
pledge  only  one-third  or  one-tenth  the  amount  in  coin,  which,  by  the 
way,  they  retain  in  their  own  possession  while  they  recpiire  of  borrow- 
ers a  perfect  security  in  the  form  of  a  mortgage  or  pledge  of  some 
product  which  far  exceeds  in  value  the  amount  of  paper  money  loaned 
thereon,  the  issue  should  be  made  directly  on  the  property  of  the 
borrower ;  he  would  then  get  his  real  credit  at  cost,  the  same  as  the 
owners  of  coin  demand  the  pledge  should  be  made  to  the  public;  it 
would  then  be  reAij$.vcd  of  the  risk  it  takes. 

To  i)rohibit  this,  under  7i<hatever  pretext,  is  to  restrict  the  citizen 
in  his  right  to  the  use  of  his  property.  To  restrict  the  issue  of  paper 
money  to  any  one  or  two  products,  even  though  it  be  increased  many 
times  more  than  the  amount  of  such  product,  is  to  reduce  the  amount 
of  pajjcr  monLV  to  the  caprice  or  interests  of  those  who  own  and  con- 
trol such  ])roiUu  t.  besides  compelling  the  jjUiblic  to  take  the  risk  of 
bad  faith  or  bad  management,  and  allowing  such  owners  more  real 
credit  than  they  are  entitled  to  ;  and  as  paper  money  is  the  instrument 
with  which  exchanges  of  the  pri)ducts  of  labor  are  effected,  both  real 
credit  and  exclnniifes  (>/  t/iese  products  are  control  led  bv  those  'vho  issue 
tfie  paper  money. 

Have  w^^>t  demonstrated  successfully  that  such  a  system  of 
l>anking  is  unjrist,  in  that  it  gives  an  exclusive  privilege  to  the  banker? 
And  have  we  not  ecjually  demonstrated  that  such  a  system  of  banking 


—  i6  — 

is  unsafe,  in   that  it  furnishes   no  security  to  the  holder  of  the  paper 
money  issued  by  such  banks  ? 

We  will  now  show  that  such  a  system  of  banking  is  too  costly. 

If  we  ascertain  from  time  to   time  the  total  wealth  existing  in   any 

country,  it  is  easy  to  determine  the  actual  annual  rate  of  increase,  by 

dividing  the  intervening  time   into  years,   and  ascertaining  the  per 

centage  corresponding  to  one  year,  by  a  little  calculation.      'I'hus  the 

United  States  census,  for  i860,  gives  the  assessed  valuation  of  the 

Total  real  and  personal  wealth  as        -         $12,084,560,005 

The  same  for  1870,     ....  14,187,986,732 

The  same  for  1880,     ....  16,902,993,543 

The  rate  of  increase,  per  annum,  for  the  ten  years  ending  1870 
is  less  than  2  1-2  per  cent.  The  rate  of  increase  per  annum,  for  the 
ten  years  ending  1880,  is  less  than  three  per  cent.  We  presume  that 
the  average  rate  of  interest  in  this  country  is  not  less  than  7  or  8  ])er 
cent;  if  it  is  seven,  it  is  nearly  three  times  as  much  as  the  average 
increase  of  wealth. 

Now,  if  the  average  increase  of  wealth,  per  annum,  in  the  United 
States  is  2  1-2  per  cent,  and  the  average  rate  of  interest  is  7  per  cent, 
wtiere  does  the  4  1-2  i)er  cent  come  from,  which  money-lenders 
demand  for  the  use  of  their  money,  in  excess  of  the  said  average? 
And  since,  not  only  money-lenders,  but  all  capitalists,  demand  a 
similar  rate  for  the  use  of  their  capital,  our  dilemma  increases.  Hy 
what  process  of  arithmetic  can  the  situation  be  explained  !"  If  all 
capitalists  and  money-lenders  w^ere  to  demand  and  receive  but  2  1-2 
per  cent,  all  those  who  have  no  capital,  but  who  earn  their  living  by 
their  labor,  could  not  accumulate,  and  at  the  end  of  each  year  would 
find  that  all  that  they  had  appropriated  would  be  what  they  had  con- 
sumed. But  the  fact  is  that  most  capitalists  and  money-lenders  do 
receive  a  much  higher  rale,  and  some  large  fortunes  have  been 
accumulated  so  rapidly,  that  the  percentage  of  increase  can  only  be 
expressed  by  hundreds.  ("an  it  be  exj)lained  by  sui)posing  that  so 
large  an  amount  of  capital  is  idle,  or  receives  no  interest,  and  that 
another  large  amount  receives  so  small  an  interest  as  to  account  for 
the  difference  between  the  average  increase  of  wealth,  and  all  the 
varying  rates  of  interest  to  capitalists  and  money-le^ws  from  that 
which  exceeds  the  average  increase  of  wealth,  to  that  re])resented  by 
the  most  rapid  accumulation  ?     May  we  not  venture  to  introduce  here 


—  17  — 

also,  the  item   of  failures  as   legitimately  connected  with   this   phe- 
phenomena  ? 

Let  us  imagine  a  great  balance  sheet : — 


ON    THE     DEBIT     SIDE     WE     WOULD 
FIND  : 

Idle  Capital, 

Low  Rates  of  Interest, 

No  Interest, 

Partial  Loss  of  Capital, 

Total  Loss  of  Capital, 

Failures. 


ON     THE    CREDIT    SIDE    WE    WOULD 
FIND  : 


High  Rates  of  Interest, 
Rapid  Accumulation, 
Immense  Fortunes. 


In  other  words,  if  there  were  no  failures,  there  could  be  no  rapid 
accumulation  such  as  we  see.  For  all  capital  that  increased  at  the 
rate  of  5  per  cent,  there  would  have  to  be  an  equal  amount  that  did 
not  increase  at  all;  for  all  capital  that  increased  at  the  rate  of  10  per 
cent  there  would  have  to  be  three  times  that  amount  that  did  not 
increase  at  all ;  for  all  capital  that  increased  at  the  rate  of  20  per  cent 
there  would  have  to  be  seven  times  that  amount  that  did  not  increase 
at  all;  for  all  capital  that  increased  at  the  rate  of  50  per  cent  thera 
would  have  to  be  19  times  as  much  that  did  not  increase,  and  so  on 
in  that  proportion,  otherwise  the  average  would  exceed  2  1-2  per 
cent,  which  is  noAhe  case.  Think  then  of  the  failures  that  must 
occur  when  you  Contemplate  the  vast  accumulations  of  the  Vander- 
bilts,  the  Goulds,  the  MacKays  and  all  the  other  millionaires  you 
have  created  within  the  last  twenty  years. 

If  such  desolation — such  annihilation  of  human  effort,  and 
slaughter  of  human  hopes,  is  the  result,  is  it  not  a  matter  of  self- 
interest  to  all  concerned  to  put  an  end  to  such  barbarism  ? — invent  a 
system  that  has  common  sense  as  well  as  justice,  or  cease  to  associate 
our  generation  with  these  terms — blot  them  out  from  the  vocabulary, 
and  substitute  in  their  place  hypocrisy  and  fraud. 

Is  further  argument  necessary  ?  Need  we  go  any  deeper  into  the 
subject  to  show  that  a  rate  of  interest,  even  equal  to  the  average  rate 
of  increase  of  wealth,  is  incompatible  with  a  just  distribution  of  the 
same  ?  For  \vj||k  such  a  rate  of  interest  money-lenders  and  capitalists, 
will  absorb  allThe  increase,  and  lahor,  the  only  creator  of  wealth, 
cannot  participate  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  own  offspring. 

Therefore,  as  the  specie-basis  system  of  banking,  if  readopted  in 


—  i8  — 

this  couutry,  would  not  materially  change  the  rate  of  interest,  much 
less  reduce  it  below  the  average  rate  at  which  wealth  increases,  we 
must  decide  that,  in  addition  to  its  other  defects,  it  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  economy  required  oi  i^istitutions  tofuniis/i  real  credit. 

But  we  have  still  another  reason  for  rejecting  this  system.  If  in 
the  future,  gold  and  silver  cease  to  be  mined  from  any  cause,  or  the 
supply  greatly  reduced,  and  such  large  quantities  are  consumed  in  the 
arts  and  trades  as  to  constantly  diminish  the  amount  until  it  is  ex- 
hausted, what  would  become  of  the  system  based  on  these  metals  ? 
We  may  finally  conclude  to  dispense  with  a  "measure  of  value,"  and  a 
"standard  of  value,"  even  if  such  a  thing  ever  existed.  But  can  we 
have  a  system  of  money  based  upon  silver  and  gold  without  any  such 
metals  to  base  it  upon  ?  \\'ho  will  venture  to  affirm  that  fifty  years 
from  now  the  amount  of  gold  and  silver  coin  in  existence  will  not  be 
reduced  to  one-half  or  one-fourth  its  present  volume,  or  that  the 
world's  commerce  will  not  be  double  what  it  is  now?  And  if  both 
take  the  place,  will  the  advocates  of  specie  basis  still  insist  that  we 
must  adhere  to  their  pet  system  ? 

Bui,  sujjpose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  by  new  discoveries  of  vast 
quantities  of  the  "precious"  metals,  and  greater  facilities  and  economy 
in  process  of  reduction,  they  become  as  abundant  as  copper  or  lead, 
is  their  market  or  exchangeable  value  to  l)e  kept  up  bi^legislation  ?  or 
are  we  to  have  silver  cjuarters  as  big  as  saucers  and  gold  dollars  that 
weigh  an  ounce  ?  And  if  so,  how  arc  we  to  manage  the  loss  that 
such  changes  entail  ? 

Need  we  extend  this  argument  to  show  that  there  is  no  science 
in  a  system  that  may  be  dej)rived  of  its  base,  and  therefore  impracti- 
cable ?  Can  the  impracticable  be  scientific  ?  If  the  term  science  can 
be  apjjlied  to  a  money  system,  it  should  be  because  it  is  in  every  way 
practicable,  not  only  to-day,  but  for  all  time ;  that  it  furnishes  a  mon- 
ey that  fulfills  the  office  or  functions  required  of  money  perfectly  ;  that 
it  is  reliable  absolutely  at  all  times,  jjortable  and  sub-divisable  to  the 
greatest  extent,  and  obtainable  at  the  lowest  possible  cost, 

\\e  must  decide,  therefore,  that  instead  of  being^  accord  with 
scientific  jjrincijjles,  it  is  a  scheme  to  enrich  bankers  wd  their  asso- 
ciates at  the  expense  of  the  rest  of  mankind. 

That  ii  affords  no  security  to  the  holders  of  its  i)aper  money. 


—  19  — 

That  it  is  the  worst  of  all  monopolies,  because  it  is  the  basis  of 
all  monopolies. 

That  it  limits  the  circulating  medium  to  a  fraction  of  what  is  re- 
quired to  develop  the  resources  of  nature  and  transact  business  for 
cash,  instead  of  on  the  credit  system  at  present  unavoiadable,  by  ex- 
cluding as  a  basis  for  the  issue  of  paper  money,  all  wealth  except  gold 
and  silver. 

That  it  absorbs  all  the  increase  of  wealth  through  high  rates  and 
compound  interest,  thus  directly  creating  pauperism  and  indirectly 
misery  and  crime. 

That  it  corrupts  and  vitiates  integrity  and  morality  in  all  transac- 
tions, and  perverts  industry  and  commerce  into  a  species  of  piracy. 

We  will  now  pay  our  respects  to  the  National  Banking  system, 
which  is  in  vogue  in  this  country. 

This  system  is  so  well  understood  that  a  description  of  it  will  be 
unnecessary.  It  will  be  well,  however,  to  refer  to  the  cause  that  pro- 
duced the  change  in  the  banking  system  of  the  country^  converting  the 
old  State  banks  into  National  banks. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  in  political  economy  that  you  can  increase 
the  market  value  of  an  article  by  creating  a  demand  for  it  and 
controlling  the  supply.  How  did  the  bankers  create  a  demand  for 
United  States  bonds  after  they  had  purchased  most  of  them  of  govern- 
ment at  a  large  discount  ?  They  established  the  National  Banks  and 
made  the  bonds  the  basis  for  the  issue  of  paper  money,  and  at  the 
same  time  passed  a  law  that  any  individual,  corporation  or  company 
that  should  issue  notes,  bills,  checks  or  anything  that  could  circulate 
as  money,  should  pay  a  tax  of  lo  per  cent  on  such  issue,  except  Na- 
tional Banks,  hence,  the  change. 

So  delusive  has  been  the  idea  of  safety  under  a  republican  form 
of  government,  so  forgetful  the  people  that  "eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  liberty,"  and  so  crafty  and  successful  the  tyrant,  whether  in 
the  garb  of  a  republican  or  disguised  as  a  democrat,  that  we  can 
no  longer  boast  of  this  as  the  home  of  liberty.  If  you  have  forgotten 
what  constitutes  democracy,  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  refresh  your  memories  with  those  glorious  sentiments.  Call  up  the 
honored  dead  and  ask  them  if  the  institutions  of  to-day  are  what  they 
had  expected  or  hoped  to  establish.  Beaten  on  the  battle  field,  aris- 
tocracy has  appeared  in  a  new  form.     It  is  not  now  taxation  through  the 


20  

tax-gatherer  only,  to  support  royalty  ;  but  it  is  taxation  in  all  the  va- 
rious forms,  which  monopolies  are  able  to  impose  through  their  con- 
trol of  the  currency. 

Suppose  the  working  people  had  controlled  legislation  at  Wash- 
ington, and  suppose  that  instead  of  the  bonded  system  with  its  twin 
parasite  the  National  Bank,  they  should  have  estabHshed  a  scheme 
something  on  this  order  : — 

By  prohibiting  any  building  material  being  used  except  hand- 
made bricks.  The  bricks  to  be  delivered  as  fast  as  made  to  duly  ap- 
pointed government  officials,  who  should  pay  for  them  at  a  fixed  high 
rate  in  paper  money  printed  for  that  express  purpose,  and  all  other 
money,  including  gold  and  silver  be  prohibited  by  a  law  similar  to  the 
one  which  now  protects  the  National  Banks  from  competition.  All 
duties  on  foreign  goods  to  be  paid  in  bricks,  which,  of  course,  could 
not  be  obtained  except  of  government,  and  all  bricks  paid  in  this  way 
to  be  used  in  constructing  government  buildings  and  other  public 
works.  The  bricks  received  of  makers  to  be  disposed  of  to  custom- 
ers, and  a  certain  proportion  of  the  money  paid  in  this  way  to  be  can- 
celed and  destroyed,  unless  it  could  be  loaned  on  good  security,  at  one 
per  cent,  per  annum.  The  government  to  receive  said  money  at  par 
in  all  cases  except  duties  on  imports. 

What  would  the  gold  bugs  have  said  of  such  a  project  ?  They 
would  have  denounced  it  in  unmeasured  terms  ;  pronomjc ed  it  a  dese- 
cration of  sacred  rights  and  time-honored  customs.  Their  patriotism 
for  gold  would  have  been  aroused  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  would 
have  called  upon  their  foreign  allies  to  come  over  and  help  them  "put 
down  such  communism." 

And  yet  such  a  scheme  would  have  contained  more  common 
sense,  and  been  far  less  disastrous  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  country 
than  what  we  have  had  to  endure. 

Such  are  our  reasonings  a  priori  unbiased  by  superstition,  preju- 
dice or  personal  interests.  We  will  now  review  these  from  the  scien- 
tific standpoint. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  MONETARY  SCIENCE. 


The  present  essay  is  intended  to  show  that  there  is  a  true  and 
correct  monetary  system ;  that  there  is  a  Monetary  Science ;  that 
monetary  science  defines  the  office  or  object  and  use,  as  well  as  the 
nature  of  money ;  and  that  our  present,  as  well  as  all  past  monetary 
systems  are  as  unscientific,  and  the  popular  views  of  money  as  in- 
correct as  the  notions  entertained  in  regard  to  astronomy  before  the 
days  of  Copernicus. 

As  much  of  this  comes  of  a  misunderstanding  of  the  definition 
of  terms,  in  order  to  arrive  at  comprehensive  views  on  this  subject,  we 
shall  commence  by  giving  the  definitions  of  such  terms  as  we  shall 
make  use  of,  and  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  which,  there  exists  a 
confusion  of  ideas. 

The  terms  whose  definitions  we  give,  as  we  understand  them,  are 
as  follows  : — 

Wealth ;  Value ;  Measure  of  Value ;  Unit  of  Value ;  Money, 
Circulating  Medium  ;  Usury ;  Cost ;  Barter : 

WEALTH. 

1.  Wealth There  are  two  kinds  of  wealth,  natural  and  arti- 
ficial. Natural  wealth  is  that  which  is  the  spontaneous  product  of 
nature,  or  in  the  production  of  which  man  has  taken  no  part.  Artificial 
wealth  is  the  product  of  man's  labor,  or  in  the  production  of  which 
man  has  taken  part.  Wherever  the  term  wealth  simply  is  used  in 
this  essay,  it  is  intended  in  every  case  to  mean  artificial  wealth. 

VALUE. 

2.  Value. — There  are  two  kinds  of  value.  There  is  what  is 
commonly  called  "market  value."  The  market  value  of  an  article  is 
ordinarily  determined  by  the  exposure  of  that  article  for  sale.  Owing, 
however,  to  our  deplorable  financial  condition,  the  market  value  of 
products  often  depends  very  largely  upon  the  "money  market," 
whereas,  when  we  come  to  correct  monetary  principles,  the  "money 


22  

market"  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  other  kind  of  value  is 
constituted  by  the  usefulness  of  an  article.  Thus  the  air  we  breathe 
is  so  valuable  that  we  cannot  live  without  it,  yet  its  market  value  is 
nothing.  So  with  water  (unless  labor  is  bestowed  upon  it),  it  has  no 
market  value,  yet  to  one  dying  of  thirst,  it  is  not  easy  to  compute  its 
value.  Money,  also,  because  it  is  not  issued  by  scientific  method, 
has,  and  until  it  is,  will  continue  to  have,  two  values.  First,  its  ex- 
changeable value  ;  second,  its  value  in  procuring  an  income.  It  must 
be  evident  to  any  one  of  sound  mind,  that  the  fact  that  one  has  bor- 
rowed money  without  interest,  will  not  affect  its  purchasing  or 
exchangeable  value  ;  hence  this  exchangeable  value  must  depend  on 
something  else  than  upon  the  amount  of  interest  that  money  will 
bring,  whereas  the  other  value  is  entirely  dependent  upon  its  ability  to 
draw  interest.  But  when  common  sense  enters  the  "money  market," 
and  aboHshes  interest,  this  value  must  disappear ;  then  the  only  value 
that  money  will  have  will  be  its  purchasing  power  or  exchangeable 
value. 

MEASURE     OF    VALUE. 

3.  Measure  of  Value. — There  is  a  fatal  misunderstanding  in 
regard  to  this  term,  and  almost  all  writers  on  the  subject  of  finance 
appear  to  have  fallen  into  an  error.  In  the  sense  in  which  it  is  most 
popularly  used,  there  is  no  sueh  thing  as  a  measure  of  value.  Instead 
of  saying,  "gold  is  the  measure  of  value,"  or,  "the  gold  dollar  is  the 
measure  of  value,"  we  should  say,  the  dollar  is  the  unit  of  value, 
as  the  inch  is  a  unit  of  length.  The  fact  that  we  cannot  express  the 
value  of  an  article,  except  by  stating  a  (juantity  of  some  commodity, 
is  proof  that  there  is  no  fixed  or  permanent  measure  of  value,  for  the 
(market)  value  of  all  commodities  change  with  supply  and  demand, 
and  the  ol)ject  "measured"  is  as  much  the  measurer  as  the  commodity 
by  which  it  is  "measured."*  Value  not  being  a  substance  nor  occu- 
pying space,  cannot  be  reached  by  mathematics  ;  its  "measurement" 
is  an  attribute  of  the  mind,  not  of  the  yard-stick.  The  absurdity  of 
this  i)opu!ar  view  of  the  measure  of  value,  is  graphically  illustrated  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  "conferring  the  power"  upon 
Congress  to  "regulate  the  value  of  money,"  for  neither  Congress  nor 
any  other  legislative  body  have  any  more  power  to  regulate  the  value 
of  money  than  they  have  to  regulate  the  velocity  of  the  wind,   or  the 


—  23  — 

degrees  of  solar  heat.      So  long  as  competition — supply  and  demand 

regulate   the   market  value   of  labor   and    products,    it,    and    not 

legislation,  controls  the  purchasing  power  of  money. 

UNIT    OF    VALUE. 

4.  Unit  of  Value. — We  have  already  indicated  the  meaning 
of  this  term,  and  for  reasons  already  stated,  believe  that  the  terms, 
"measure  of  value,"  and  "standard  of  value,"  should  not  be  used,  as 
they  convey  incorrect  ideas  of  the  functions  of  money,  as  well  as  in 
regard  to  the  laws  of  value. 

MONEY. 

5.  Money. — Circulating  Medium.  These  two  terms  have  about 
the  same  meaning.  Money  is  a  circulating  medium,  and  a  circu- 
lating medium  is  money. 

Money  cannot  properly  be  called  wealth,  although  it  is  wealth  to 
the  extent  of  the  market  value  of  the  material  of  which  it  is  composed, 
as  is  the  case  when  it  is  made  of  gold,  silver,  etc.,  but  it  is  not  wealth 
when  it  is  made  of  paper,  for  the  wealth  contained  in  a  paper  dollar, 
or  a  thousand  paper  dollars,  is  too  insignificant  to  be  called  wealth, 
or  rather  to  warrant  the  statement  that  such  money  is  wealfh.  Hence 
to  call  money  wealth,  is  incorrect,  for  that  would  imply  that  all  money 
is  wealth,  whereas,  as  we  have  already  shown,  some  kinds  of  money  )^  ft; 
not  wealth.  Therefore,  in  defining  money,  we  say,  money  is  a  rep- 
resentative of  wealth.  Or  to  state  it  more  fully,  money  is  the  circu- 
lating medium  ;  its  office  is  to  facilitate  the  exchange  of  the  products 
of  labor;  its  nature  is  a  representative  of  wealth. 

We  do  not  expect  any  opposition  to  our  first  two  propositions, 
viz.:  that  money  is  the  circulating  medium,  or  that  its  office  is  to 
facilitate  the  exchange  of  the  products  of  labor  ;  but  to  our  third 
proposition,  viz.:  that  the  definition  of  money  which  relates  to  its 
nature  is  not  wealth,  but  a  representative  of  wealth,  we  anticipate 
opposition  from  a  certain  quarter.  For  instance,  an  opponent  might 
argue  that  money  is  wealth,  and  attempt  to  prove  it  by  the  fact  that 
the  possessor  of  a  million  dollars,  even  in  paper  money,  is  a  wealthy 
individual.  We  do  not  deny  this,  yet  it  does  not  conflict  with  our  defini- 
tion. He  or  she  is  a  wealthy  individual,  because  he  or  she  possesses 
the  representative  of  one  million  dollars  worth  of  wealth,   and  can 


—  24  — 

exchange  it  for  wealth  at  any  time.  But  to  say  that  that  individual  is 
the  possessor  of  wealth,  would  not  be  correct,  for  he  or  she  is  the 
possessor  of  wealth  only  to  the  extent  of  the  market  value  of  the 
paper  stock  contained  in  the  said  paper  money.  We  cannot  too 
strongly  urge  the  importance  of  recognizing  this  distinction,  for  by  so 
doing,  we  admit  the  fact  that  we  do  not  increase  wealth  by  issuing 
paper  money ;  yet  by  issuing  paper  money  amply  secured,  we  increase 
in  the  same  proportion  the  available  capital  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
ductive enterprise,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  plan 
for  Mutual  Mortgage  Banks,  destroy  that  which  is  the  bane  of  all 
modern  enterprise,  usury  ! 

USURY. 

6.  Usury. — The  term  usury  is  applied  to  that  sum  which  is  paid 
for  the  use  of  a  larger  sum.  It  is  true,  the  word  "interest"  is  now 
more  commonly  used,  but  this  is  because  the  former  is  somewhat 
odious,  owing  to  the  fact  that  modern  legislation  has  "legalized"  usury 
up  to  a  certain  extent ;  hence,  it  is  now  customary  to  regard  usury  be- 
yond what  is  "allowed  by  law,"  as  immoral,  and  call  it  "usury,"  while 
legal  usury  is  politely  called  "interest,"  and  regarded  as  acceptable 
morality.  According  to  this  philosophy,  legislatnres  are  the  source  o^ 
morality  ! 

COST. 

7.  Cost — The  term  cost  is  meant  by  the  present  writer  to  denote 
the  net  expense  of  production,  exclusive  of  any  profit. 

BARTER. 

8.  Bartkr. — This  term  is  given  to  that  transaction  which  is  an 
exchange  of  wealth  for  wealth,  or  one  j)roduct  of  labor  for  another  pro- 
duct of  labor ;  such  as  a  house  for  a  farm,  a  watch  for  a  horse ;  a 
pair  of  shoes  for  a  hat,  or  all  these  for  specie.  Specie  is  a  species 
of  wealth  ;  therefore,  to  purchase  with  specie  is  barter. 

Having  given  our  definitions  of  the  terms  in  regard  to  the  mean- 
ing of  which  we  might  be  misunderstood,  will  now  proceed  with  our 
subject.  Our  object  being  to  prove  that  the  money  question  is  a  sub- 
ject of  science,  and  that  there  are  principles  by  which  we  can  test  the 
correctness  of  a  money  system,  we  will  first  state  what  those  principles 
are  and  then  test  the  correctness  of  i)revailing  systertis  by  their  ap- 
l>lication. 


ESSENTIAL  QUALITIES  OF  A  SCIENTIFIC 
MONETARY  SYSTEM. 


PRINCIPLE  NUMBER  ONE. 

Money  being  a  representative  of  wealth,  a  money  system  must 
provide  a  sufificient  volume  and  facilities  to  enable  all  wealth  to  be 
represented  by  money. 

PRINCIPLE    NUMBER  TWO. 

As  interest  for  money  loaned  is  not  "compensation  for  the  use  of 
capital,"  the  borrower  possessing  the  capital  (wealth),  and  needing  but 
the  representative  (except  in  cases  where  money  is  loaned  without  se" 
curity),  a  money  system  must  provide  for  the  loaning  of  this  represen- 
tative at  cost. 

PRINCIPLE  NUMBER  THREE. 

As  the  holder  of  a  bank  bill  or  government  note  is  not  thereby 
the  possessorof  wealth,  a  money  system  must  provide  absolute  security 
against  loss  to  the  holder  of  paper  money 

The  three  forgegoing  principles  constitute,  in  our  judgment,  the 
basis  of  a  correct  money  system,  and  any  system  that  does  not 
fulfill  their  requirements,  is  unworthy  of  confidence,  and  fails  to  supply 
what  is  wanted,  as  their  application  to  the  following  systems  will  show. 

"SPECIE   BASIS." 

The  system  most  popular  with  bankers  is  commonly  called  "hard 
cash,"  or  "specie  basis.  "That  is  to  say.  gold  and  silver  form  (almost)  the 
only  circulating  medium,  except  bank  bills,  which  are  issued  either  by  de- 
positing an  equal  amount  of  coin  as  security,  or  in  case  an  additional 
amount  of  bills  are  issued,  this  additional  ami^ount  is  otherwise  "se- 
cured" by  mortgages,  railroad  and  other  stocks  and  bonds,  individual 
notes,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  The  amount  in  coin  in  all  casesl  to  be  sufficient 
to  satisfy  the  claims  of  such  bill-holders  as  might  (according  to  the 


—   26  — 

law  of  chance,  only  understood  by  bankers)  present  them  at  any  one 
time  for  redemption,  or,  in  other  words,  to  be  exchanged  for  coin. 

In  the  first  place,  the  system  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of 
principle  No.  i,  for  all  the  gold  and  silver  in  the  world  is  not  adequate 
to  represent  the  balance  of  wealth,  and  would  still  remain  without  a 
representative  itself.  For  example,  suppose  the  demand  for  money  to 
be  such  as  to  induce  all  owners  of  buildings  to  seek  money  by  mort- 
gaging the  said  property,  it  is  evident  the  amount  would  not  be  suffi- 
cient. But  suppose  the  circulating  medium  to  be  increased  by  the  is- 
sue of  more  bank  bills,  securing  the  same  by  depositmg  the  mort. 
gages.  Each  additional  issue  would  render  it  more  and  more  difficult 
for  the  bank  to  "redeem  on  demand,"  until  finally  it  would  be  an  im- 
possibility to  meet  even  the  ordinary  demands  upon  the  bank  for  coin. 

In  the  second  place,  such  money  is  not  a  representative  of 
wealth,  but  to  the  extent  of  the  metals  used,  it  is  wealth  itself,  and 
therefore  cannot  fulfill  the  requirements  of  principle  No.  2. 

In  the  third  place,  the  system  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of 
of  principle  No.  3,  for  aside  from  the  notorious  fact  that  the  history  of 
such  banks  is  a  history  of  failures,  these  banks  promise  to  do  what 
their  managers  know  is  an  impossibility,  for  the  history  of  banking 
shows  that  no  bank  could  ever  redeem  all  its  notes  on  demand  at  any 
one  time,  having  issued  at  least  three  dollars  in  paper  to  every  silver 
or  gold  dollar  on  deposit.  Again,  such  banks  do  not  afford  that 
security  demanded  by  our  principle  No.  3.  from  the  fact  that  the  only 
"security"  is  in  the  hands  of  the  bankers  themselves. 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  specie  basis  system  of 
money  is  unscientific.  It  does  not  possess  any  of  the  qualities 
demanded  by  monetary  science*. 

GREr-:NI!ACKS. 

We  will  now  consider  the  paper  money  known  as  the  "green- 
back." Clreenbacks  are  notes  issued  by  the  United  States  govern- 
ment. They  are  promises  to  pay.  When  first  issued  the  government 
made  the  duties  on  imports  jjayable  in  gold  only.  This  action  on 
the  part  of  the  issuer  of  the  greenback  very  naturally  caused  a  premium 
to  be  demanded  for  gold.  There  being  a  steady  demand  for  it  and 
the  supply  limited  and  controlled,  like  any  other  comiuodity,  its  price 
advanced,    and    the    purchasing    power  of    the    greenback    corre- 


—  27  — 

spondingly  diminished.  As  soon  as  the  government  made  the 
greenback  receivable  for  all  dues  (including  imports)  its  purchasing 
power  became  equal  to  that  of  coin  money. 

The  greenback  adopted  as  the  only  circulating  medium  as 
advocated  by  large  numbers  of  people  in  the  United  States,  does  not 
fulfill  the  requirements  of  principle  No.  i,  for  government  issues  of 
paper  money — treasury  certificates  of  service — at  best  could  but 
represent  the  wealth  created  in  the  service  rendered  government,  but 
could  not  represent  wealth  not  so  created. 

It  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of  principle  No.  2,  as  owners 
of  private  wealth  cannot  obtain  it  to  represent  their  wealth  at  cost. 

It  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of  principle  No.  3,  because 
holders  of  such  paper  "money"  are  not  secured  against  loss,  and  the 
arbitrary  issue  of  such  enormous  quantities  would  cause  its  depreci- 
ation. 

It  is  equally  evident  that  the  National  Banking  system  does  not 
fulfill  the  requirements  of  either  of  our  principles. 


A  GOVERNMENT   PAPER  MONEY  WHICH  ACCORDS  THE 

NEAREST  TO  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  MON- 

ETARY   SCIENCE. 

A.  First.     A  government  may  issue  treasury  certificates  of  service 

with  which  to  pay  its  expenses,  providing  the  volume  issued  does  not 

exceed  the  total  amount  or  its  revenues  in  any  one  year. 

B.  Second.  A  government  may  issue  treasury  certificates  to  the 
extent  of  two-thirds  of  the  value  of  the  wealth  it  possesses. 

In  each  of  these  issues  each  bill  or  certificate  should  bear  upon 
its  face  a  pledge  that  the  government,  in  all  its  departments,  will 
receive  it  in  payment  of  all  dues  at  par.  The  facts  in  regard  to  the 
volume  issued,  and  to  be  issued,  in  accordance  with  what  has  been 
stated  in  paragraphs  A  and  B  should  also  be  impressed  upon  each 
certificate.  Torn  and  wornout  certificates  should  be  exchanged  for 
new  ones  without  charge.  Government  has  no  need  of  promising  to 
exchange  these  certificates  for  coin,  any  more  than  it  does  its  revenue 
stamps.  No  need  for  provision  for  the  cancellation  of  such  issues, 
except  for  the  burning  of  certificates  received  for  new  ones,  and  also 


—   28  — 

such  amonnts  as  it  is  desired  to  retire  from  circulation,  as,  within  the 
limits  already  indicated,  the  certificates  will  continue  to  circulate  at 
par,  and  providing  such  circulation  is  not  made  compulsory  by  "legal 
tender"  acts. 

The  certificates  should  be  placed  in  the  treasury,  offered  in  place 
of  coin  and  paid  to  those  who  will  accept  them. 

Such  treasury  certificates  do  not  conflict  with  principle  No.  i. 
They  either  represent  wealth  which  is  the  property  of  government,  or 
they  represent  service  rendered  government,  and  as  they  are  not 
intended  to  be  the  only  circulating  medium,  other  means  being  pro- 
vided (in  the  plan  of  the  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank)  for  a  representative 
of  private  wealth,  they  are  not  affected  by  our  prihciple  No.  2. 

It  does  not  conflict  with  principle  No.  3  as  ample  security  is 
obtained  in  the  limit  to  the  amount  issued.  The  fact  that  the 
government  receives  this  paper  money  in  all  payments  at  par,  and  in 
its  voluntary  acceptance  when  paid  out  of  the  treasur}\  No  greater 
amount  can  find  its  way  out  of  the  treasury  than  will  float  on  the 
market  at  par. 

Having  demonstrated  through  our  Principles  of  Monetar}' 
Science,  the  defects  of  prevailing  banking  systems  and  the  utter 
inability  of  such  institutions  to  fulfill  the  pressing  needs  of  our  pro- 
gressive civilization,  we  call  attention  to  the  following  system  which 
does,  and  is  destined  to  supersede  all  others. 


PLAN  FOR  THE  MUTUAL  MORTGAGE  BANK. 

The  following  is  Col.  Greene's  plan  for  a  Mutual   Bank,  with 
such  alterations  and  additions  as,  in  my  humble  judgment,  will  explain 
it  more  fully,  and  add  to  its  usefulne/s  and  safety  as  a  co-operative  ^ 
instrumentality : 

1.  The  inhabitants,   or  any  portion  of  the  inhabitants,  of  any 
town  or  city,  may  organize  themselves  into  a  MAtual  Mortgage  Bank-   Q\ 
ing  Company.  J 

2.  The  officers  of  a  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank  should  be  a  board 
of  directors,  an  appraiser,  a  manager,  a  cashier,  and  a  secretary. 

3.  Those  who  propose  to  become  members,  should  elect  the 
appraiser  and  the  board  of  directors,  who  should  hold  their  office  for 
one  year. 

4.  The  board  of  directors  should  first  elect  the  manager,  cashier 
and  secretary,  from  among  their  number. 

5.  The  manager,  cashier  and  secretary  should  hold  office  until 
they  resign,  or  are  removed  by  the  board  of  directors,  who  should 
require  each  to  give  bonds.  They  should  be  subject  to,  and  not 
members  of  the  board,  nor  participate  in  its  meetings,  except  when 
called  upon  to  do  so ;  and  the  same  rule  should  govern  the  appraiser. 

6.  The  appraiser  and  members  of  the  board  may  be  removed 
at  a  general  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  bank,  and  others  elected 
to  fill  their  places,  of  which  due  notice  should  be  given. 

7-  Membership  ceases  when  a  member  pays  his  notes  to  the 
bank,  and  none  but  members  should  be  directors. 

8.  The  board  of  directors  should  employ  a  secretary  of  its  own, 
and  a  legal  advisor,  and  fix  the  salary  of  the  officers  and  employees.' 

9-  The  manager  should  manage  the  affairs  of  the  bank,  the 
cashier  the  usual  duties,  and  the  secretary  should  have  charge  of  all 
documents,  see  that  all  mortgages  were  duly  recorded  before  notes 
are  cashed  by  the  bank,  and  keep  an  account  of  the  printing  and  issue 
of  bills. 

2£^^j^y^PgIiQ^J?^^y  become  a  member  of  the  >rutual  MorteaL-e 


—  3°  — 


Banking  Company,  of  any  particular  town  or  city,  by  pledging 
UNINCUMBERED  buildings,  not  vacant  lands,  situated  m  that 
town  or  city,  or  in  its  immediate  neighborhood,  to  the  bank. 

II      The  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank  should  print  (or  have  printed) 
paper  money,  with  which  to  discount  the  mortgage  notes  of  its  mem- 

bers. 

1 2  Every  member,  at  the  time  his  note  is  cashed  by  Ae  bank, 
should  bind  himself  and  be  bound  in  due  legal  form,  to  receive  in 
payment  of  debts  at  par,  and  from  all  persons,  the  bills  issued  and  to 
be  issued  by  the  bank. 

13  Notes  falling  due  may  be  renewed  by  the  bank,  subject  to 
the  modification  which  a  new  valuation  may  require,  so  that  the  note 

does  not  exceed  two-thirds.  tvt  ^     i 

14  Any  person  may  borrow  the  paper  money  of  a  Mutual 
Mortgage  Bank  on  his  own  note  running  twelve  months  (without 
indorsement),  to  an  amount  not  to  exceeed  two-thirds  of  the  cost  of 
the  building  (exclusive  of  the  value  of  the  lot)  pledged  by  him. 

15  The  charge  which  the  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank  should  make 
for  the  loans,  should  be  determined  by,  and  if  possible,  not  exceed  the 
expenses  of  the  institution,  pro  rata.* 

16.     No  money  should  be  loaned  by  the  bank  except  on  the 

above  conditions. 

17  Any  member  may  have  his  property  releasedjrom  pledge, 
and  be  himself  released  from  all  obligations  to  the  Mutual  Bank,  and 
to  the  holders  of  its  bills  as  such,  by  paying  his  note  or  notes  to  the 

said  bank. 

18  The  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank  shall  receive  none  other  than 
its  own  money,  or  that  of  similar  institutious,  except  such  coin  money 
as  the  board  of  directors  may  designate,  and  this  should  be  discounted 

one-half  of  one  per  cent. 

19.  All  Mutual  Mortgage  Banks  may  enter  into  such  arrange- 
ments with  each  other,  as  shall  enable  them  to  receive  each  other's 

bills. 

20      'Hie  Mutual  Mortgage  Bank  should  publish  in  one  or  more 

daily  papers  each  day,  a  statement  of  its  loans  the    day   previous, 


♦  '-Shcnpard    Homans  says,  ihat  the  savings  banks  of  Massachusetts,  paid  their 
...r'.r.L  .P...  .n  ....  J.h  ,hrec-tentbs  of  one  per  cent  per  annum. 


_3i— 

describing  the  property  mortgaged,  giving  the  owner's  name  and  its 
location,  with  the  appraiser's  value  and  the  amount  loaned  on  it. 
And  also  a  statement  of  the  notes  paid,  and  mortgages  cancelled 
during  the  same  period,  which  statements  should  be  signed  by  the 
manager,  cashier  and  secretary. 

The  foregoing  plan  for  a  bank  of  issue  or  bank  to  discount 
mortgage  notes,  upon  the  idea  of  mutuality,  and  wherein  the  stock- 
holder is  dispensed  with  and  usury  is  abohshed  is  suggested  after 
mature  reflection ;  but  the  author  will  gladly  accept  any  improvement 
that  could  be  proved  to  be  such.  It  is  obvious,  that  if  individual 
notes  that  are  secured  by  mortgage  on  buildings,  can  be  discounted 
in  this  way,  so  can  individual  notes  that  are  secured  by  mortgage  on 
other  imperishable  property ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  state  that  an 
essential  condition,  is  that  all  such  property  should  be  covered  by 
ample  insurance,  payable  to  the  bank.  We  would  simply  add  that 
Mutual  Insurance  can  only  be  possible  ivhe7i  nsiiry  is  abolished ;  then 
none  other  can  exist,  and  such  will  afford  the  best  protection  that 
human  institutions  can  furnish. 

That  this  system  of  organizing  credit  is  based  upon  our  principles, 
must  be  evident  to  any  one  candid  enough  to  examine  it.  The  ques- 
tion remains  then,  are  they  principles  ?  or  are  they  dogmas  merely? 
The  answer  we  must  leave  to  the  future. 

That  this  plan  will  furnish  real  credit  independent  of  any  monied 
power,  at  cost,  and  thus  materially  help  personal  credit,  seems  evident 
to  us. 

The  emancipation  of  borrowers-with-colateral,  from  a  monied 
power  who  control  the  circulating  medium,  will  render  financial  crisis 
impossible  and  perpetuate  that  prosperity  which  is  destined  to  abolish 
poverty,  and  with  it  all  the  evils  it  is  the  cause  of. 

If  there  are  those  who  think  they  can  refute  any  of  the  arguments 
or  ideas  advanced,  or  conclusions  arrive  at  in  this  work,  we  shall  be 
most  glad  to  hear  from  them,  either  through  the  press  or  by  directly 
addressing  the  author.  All  such  communications  or  published  articles 
will  receive  careful  consideration  and  be  courteously  answered. 


—  32 


Tine  following  able  workis   v^ill  be 
foTJind  of  great   valtae  ajs  aids 
in  tbis  line  of  tboiagbt. 


2.  MUTUAL  BANKING,  by  Col.  W.  B.  Greene. 

2.  HARD  CASH,  by  K.  H.  Heyvvood. 

2.  YOURS  OR  MINE,  by  E.  H.  Heywood.  ^ 

1.  TRUE  CIVILIZATION,  by  Josiah  Warren. 

1  RICHES  AND  POVERTY,  by  Wm.  Hanson. 

2  NATURAL  LAW,  or  The  Science  of  Justice,  by  Lysander  Spooner. 
2    HENRY  GEORGE  EXAMINED,  by  J.  K.Ingalls. 

2.  THE  ABOLITION  OF  INTERF.ST.  First  edition  of  the  present  work,  by   Altred 

B.  Westrup. 
2.  USURY,  The  Giant  Sin  of  the  Age,  by  Ed.  Palmer. 
2   CO-OPFR  VriON.  Its  Laws  and  Principles,  by  Chas.  T.  Fowler. 
^2.  THE  REORGANIZATION  OF  BUSINESS;  In  the  Store  and  the  Bank,  on  the 
"Farm  and  in  the  Factory,  by  Chas.  T.  Fowler. 

I  will  furnish  any  two  of  those  marked  2,  and  a  copy  of  the  present  book  for  50 
-n^^S^J^S^  i^  r^I^d^^^^r ^b/^a^l^u&atis.  ';^Ioney  a.d 
the  Mechanism  of  Exchange."  in  two  parts  by  Prof.  W  Stanley  Jevons.  I- .  R.  S.     I  w.ll 

25  cents.  Address,  Dallas,  Texas. 


The  following  are  Radical  Reform  publications,  fearless  in  utterance. 

T  H  K    WORD, 

A      MONTHLY      JOURNAL     OF      R  E  F  O  R  M 

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LIBERTY. 

Issued  Fortnightly  at  One  Dollar  a  Year:  Single  Copies  Five  CenU. 

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WH\T  IS  PROPERTY?  g[ght  aKf^Grmten^ "o^r/ 
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